Scars
by Hunter0309
Summary: Two years later the comet is approaching, and Aang must quickly prepare himself before he faces King Ozai. Meanwhile, Prince Zuko saves an Earthbender from the clutches of the Firebenders and finds himself facing even worse dishonor by falling in love.
1. Zuko's Weakness

"Uncle-" called a very demanding voice from the other side of the ship, "Uncle..." A tall, well-built teenager, around the age of eighteen, with a noticeable scar on his face came strolling over to his elder's right side. "I am going to go have a look at the battle grounds, Uncle," he held his hands behind his back and stood proudly next to his beloved father figure.

At first glance, the nephew appeared like any normally displeased teenager who hates the entire world and everyone in it. He never allowed his lips to form a smile; if he ever smiled only his uncle would be able to claim that he saw the unbelievable sight. His golden yellow eyes always had a dark gleam in them as if he was planning new ways to achieve a newfound glory. What caught everyone's full attention though was the terrible burn on the left side of his face; the scar luckily did not interfere with his left eye's vision.

This scar was a sign of his dishonor and disobedience to the Fire Nation. He and his uncle had cut their ponytails to show their separation from the Fire Nation; now the nephew could let his hair grow out and cover up most of the disgraceful scar. Though he was slender, the nephew trained daily on the deck of the metal ship with his uncle. Currently the young man was wearing his favorite Fire Nation armor, made from the strongest and lightest materials, painted in black, red, and gold.

The uncle was watching the ocean's rippling waves glisten under the bright sun's rays with a contemplating look. "Prince Zuko..." the man's voice sounded stern and harsh, "Promise me that you will _not_ get in the way of Admiral Zhao's army...We do not want another confrontation like the last time." Tearing his eyes away from the wonderful sight of the sunlight dancing about the blue waves, Uncle Iroh looked into his nephew's hardened eyes. "Come back before sundown Prince Zuko-tonight is music night," he grinned brightly while his nephew just rolled his eyes at the thought of listening to his crew's musical skills.

Although Uncle Iroh always seemed to be taking everything very seriously, he had a humorous personality that he would occasionally unfold to the public. Being the father figure in Prince Zuko's life, he mostly ignored the bitter attitude of his nephew and defended him always. In the most troubling moments of Zuko's life, Uncle Iroh acted as the voice of reason. Even though he appeared as a broken old man, Uncle Iroh used to be a commander of the Fire Nation-a great feat to achieve in one's lifetime.

"I will return soon Uncle," Prince Zuko muttered as he gave a fleeting look towards the scenic view of the ocean, "I promise," he added to please his uncle. Walking away from the retired commander, Zuko wondered why his uncle was always so kind to him while his father Ozai was so...different. Quickly shaking the bothering thoughts away from his mind, he casually walked off his ship and headed to the end of the dock.

The Fire Nation was wrapping up their war with the Earth Kingdom-a battle that was going on for over one hundred and two years now. Slowly taking the Earth Kingdom's towns, the Fire Nation had nearly won the war until the Earth Kingdom people found new moral. No one could stand up to the Fire Nation's brute power except for one Airbender-named Aang. This Airbender is the last of his kind and he is the Avatar of these times. Being an Avatar meant that you were able to master all four elements: earth, air, water, and fire. But what really angered the Fire Nation was the fact that the Avatar was only fourteen years old.

Zuko has one mission in his life and that's to capture the Avatar in order to regain his respect and honor from his cold-hearted father. Once he captures Aang, Zuko would be allowed to come back home and take his father's place as ruler of the Fire Nation. There was one person standing in his way of getting his honor back-Commander Zhao; whom Zuko loathed with every fiber of his being. In the past, the prince had proven to his uncle and to his crew that he will never stop until he captures the Avatar himself-even if it means fighting against the Fire Nation.

For three days Zuko, Uncle Iroh, and their crew were stuck at the shores of the Earth Kingdom because of the ongoing battle and the Fire Nation's need of Firebenders "just in case" the Avatar suddenly decided to show up. The Prince of the Fire Nation knew better though, the Avatar would not come to save the Earth Kingdom just yet-Aang was in desperate need of more training before he could face Commander Zhao or Ozai, Lord of the Fire Nation. Zuko had defeated Zhao before, but it was only by pure luck that he had broken the used-to-be general's balance.

Sighing loudly, Zuko pushed his way through his fellow Firebenders and Fire Nation warriors; they all were furiously trying to restock their war ships before the next attack on the Earthbenders. It was becoming too crowded on the dock for the prince so he quickened his pace to get away from all of the hustle and bustle. When he was just about to walk up the dirt road to see the battle grounds like he had planned to do, he found an interesting hidden path near the side of the road. Thinking only for a moment about it, he walked down the secluded stone path that had been revealed due to all of the plant life around the dock being burned to a crisp.

Luckily enough, no one noticed the prince slip away from the dramatic scenes at the dock and disappear as he traveled over a blackened hillside where a few burned thatched houses still remained. As he followed the stone path, Zuko could smell burning cinders in the hot sticky air. He frowned at the familiar scent; it wasn't that he hated the smell of fire but he just hated to see such a beautiful lush-green kingdom turn to a bitter black.

Dead leaves and branches crunched under Zuko's heavy black boots as he started to walk down the stone path on the hillside. It was now leading him towards a secret spot that had not yet been turned completely to ashes. This spot was hidden from the rest of the world by the numerous charcoal hills and a small blackened forest. Passing through the dense forest with some trouble, the prince discovered that something beautiful was still preserved from all of the flames. The tiny forest was encircling a gorgeous flower garden that the Earthbenders were tediously growing before the Fire Nation attacked. A stream, which was running down from one of the hills, merrily poured water into a pond covered with lilypads. An ancient bench made out of stone was next to the pond and stream, the legs were stained brown due to age. Zuko noticed that blood had been spilled on the top of the bench.

At first he thought that he had been the only Firebender to discover this breathtaking area but when he saw the blood-he knew that nothing was safe from the Fire Nation's overpowering brute force and determination. Awful feelings of remorse and regret surfaced in the prince's heart, he could not stand to see innocent people being killed for not submitting to the Fire Nation's power. Of course he knew that everyone had to die sometime, but Commander Zhao's army wasn't sparing traitors' lives anymore. The Fire Nation's warriors were becoming heartless murders over the past two years now.

Drawing closer to the bench, he spotted that the blood was fresh and in the shape of a hand print made by someone slightly smaller than him. He lowered his head in respect for the victim he thought was the dead and was just about to whisper a prayer when he heard twigs snap behind him. Lifting his head back up and turning his head slightly over his shoulders, Zuko saw an unknown figure stumble towards him and then suddenly fall on him for support. "_Please_..." the prince barely had any time to react.

Somewhat taken aback by the person who was now desperately clutching his broad armored shoulders and begging for help, Zuko swiftly reached out and grabbed the figure tightly by the wrists. Roughly pushing the person off, the prince kept them firmly standing up to see if he could decipher their shadowed face. All of the blood in Zuko's face drained, leaving his skin pale white, when he realized that he was holding a young girl with his bare hands. While he was holding her wrists, he felt something wet and warm dripping from his hands. He glanced down at her hands to see that they had been burned badly. Zuko loosened his grip on her wrists instantly when he saw blood trickling down onto the dead leaves and all over his own hands.

"_Help-please-_" she was begging to Zuko in a weak voice not to leave her all alone, "_Mercy_..." Looking into her soft hazel-colored eyes, he could see a dreadfully frightened girl who was probably not a day older than he was. Her clothes were torn, burned, and stained with blood in multiple places-she wore the outfit of an Earthbender warrior. The Earthbender's shoulder-length black hair covered most of her face so Zuko could not really get a very good look at her. One thing was for sure though, she was the one Zuko was going to say a special prayer for. It seemed like his prayers had been mysteriously answered because he was about to pray for whoever was wounded to be alive and safe.

Zuko did not know what else to do right then except to just stare blankly at her in response to her pleas. When he was positive that she was an Earthbender, he released his grip on her wounded wrists and took a step away from her. The prince could not be seen with her around the other Firebenders-this would dishonor him even more if he was caught.

Tears began streaming down her bruised and burned face when he took a few more cautious steps away from her like she was some kind of diseased rodent. "_Please_..." the girl begged once more as Zuko turned his back on her and tried as hard as he could to fix his attention on the pond. It was obvious that the Earthbender was using all of her strength to remain standing before him but the prince pretended that he had not noticed this.

Moments later he heard the girl cry out in pain, by the time Zuko had flipped around to see what was wrong-she was down on her knees shaking uncontrollably and clutching her ribs as if they were broken. More tears tumbled down her cheeks, the pain she was in was barely sufferable. "_Help-m-me_..."

Not once had the prince ever seen someone fall down to their knees crying and begging for his aide or mercy like he was the Lord of the Fire Nation himself. He froze with fear once again and quickly thought about the consequences if he was caught helping his enemy. _If anyone finds out-you'll never be able to return home! After all of these years_..._when you are so close to capturing the Avatar and regaining your honor-you're going to throw it all away to save an EARTHBENDER!_ Staring long and hard at her, he continued to muse silently. Finally, he knelt down on the dead leaves and rich soil next to the wounded girl to place his strong hand lightly on her shoulder. "I will help you..." Zuko didn't know why he was listening to his heart and not to his clever mind but he did anyways. The prince's father was right, Zuko _did_ have a soft heart.

"_Thank you_..." the Earthbender weakly lifted her eyes to look at him face to face. She gave him a broken smile with her bloody lips which made the prince's usually cold heart weak; it seemed like the prince had found his newest weakness.

Glancing around the secluded area, Zuko's mind was now racing as he tried to come up with a plan to get the girl to safety. The Firebenders would recognize her as being from the Earth Kingdom with her burned hands and earth-toned clothing-it would be a dead give away even to a child from the Fire Nation. Then it suddenly hit him, Firebenders would recognize _him_ no matter what he wore due to his extremely noticeable scar on his left eye. "I need you to put this on..." Zuko began to take off his armored chest cover; he thought it would fit her since she almost as tall as him. Underneath his armor was a slightly baggy, long-sleeve, grey shirt that had a few burn marks on the shoulders.

Twenty minutes later, Zuko was pulling the weak Earthbender to her feet; he was silently praying that her disguise would prove faultless. His armor barely fit her though, it looked like the armor had been made for someone twice her width but Zuko would make sure that no one would see her from the side. He helped wash the blood off her hands in the pond and blood from her face. There was only one problem that he was worried about-her padded leather shoes were not usually worn by Firebenders. He would have given her his boots but her feet were too tiny and she could barely walk as it was. Swinging her left arm around his shoulders, the girl leaned all of her weight against the prince as they slowly made their way back through the burned forest.

As they left the secret pond and garden, Zuko was wondering what he was going to do with the Earthbender now that they were coming closer the dock. She would be discovered if he took her to a Firebender medical camp, her burned hands would give it all away. The only safe spot would be back where he had found her-but he knew that he wouldn't be able to save her if she had been found by the other Firebenders. Once the battlefields were clear, the Firebenders would search every nook and cranny for any hiding Earthbenders. _She would have no chance at all_...he told himself thousands of times over.

"_Thank you Firebender_..." the girl whispered in a very hoarse voice before she could see the busy dock as they slowly made their way up the blackened hills of her homeland.

Her voice sounded so sincere and grateful, it made Zuko turn his head and stare into her soft brown eyes that were flecked with spots of gold with some astonishment. He found it hard to believe that an Earthbender would be sincerely thanking a Firebender when the Fire Nation was trying to kill her and her people. "My name is Zuko..." he corrected her in a gruff voice. Zuko quickly looked away when she gave him the same broken smile which made his heart beat unevenly.

"_Thank-y-ou_..._Prince Zu-ko_..." it was clear that she knew very well who was sparing her life.

When he had full view of the dock, Zuko was somewhat relieved to find it as busy as ever. The larger the crowd was the easier it was to sneak by undetected by the busy Firebenders; _Here_ _we go_...he said to himself. He felt the Earthbender grip his left shoulder even tighter from the immense pain she was in. "We're almost there-" he could see tears streaming down her face once again, "I won't let them touch you," he swore to her loudly. It was strange for him to give someone besides his uncle his word, but Zuko always managed to keep his word. "Now walk like a proud Firebender," he ordered. It would be the only way to save her life.

Taking in a deep breath, Zuko and the Earthbender nearly crawled down the hill without drawing any attention to themselves. Once they were amongst the crowd of Firebenders on the dirt road, it seemed like they would go unnoticed by the majority of them. The only reason they would turn their heads to stare at the two teenagers was when Zuko would bark at them to move out of his way or else.

Forcing their way to the overly-crowded dock, the prince hadn't come up with his second idea yet. He glanced into the sky to see that the sun was slowly setting behind the ocean's horizon, _I can't believe I'm doing this_...he moaned to himself when he knew what he had to do. A few minutes later they were both on his ship; luckily no one was outside on the deck yet. The crew and Uncle Iroh would most likely be down in the boiling room of the ship having their dinner and playing some music. Zuko trusted his crew of course, but he didn't want to take any chances on one of them suddenly deciding to "accidentally" blurt out loud that there was an Earthbender on the ship.

"_Where are we_...?" the Earthbender's voice cracked slightly as Zuko frantically checked the deck of his somewhat run-down ship for any sign of his crew hanging around.

"We're on my ship," the prince helped her to the other end of his ship to a set of metal stairs, which would lead them to the lower levels of the ship. Before they could crawl their way down the staircase, Zuko had to tell her what was deeply troubling his mind. "Where I'm taking you-you must make sure you are not-" he saw her mouth the words "heard or seen, I know."

With an understanding between them now, Zuko nervously bit his lip as he glanced around the deck of his ship and the staircase for one final time. The trip from the secret garden to Zuko's ship had drained all of the Earthbender's remaining strength-she would not make it down the stairs. Without giving her a warning, he bent down slightly and grabbed her legs so he could lift her into his arms. Cautiously walking down the metal staircase with her arms around his neck and her wounded body in his arms, he carried her to the first lower level of the ship. He watched tears stream down from her tightly closed eyes, she was trying not to scream in pain.

It seemed almost like the ship had been abandoned but Zuko knew better, his entire crew were down one more level. He abruptly stopped in front of a cold steel door that was near the front of his ship, this was the safest place he knew of on the ship.

Using his foot to open the door, it creaked open to reveal a dim room with a Fire Nation flag hanging on a metal wall just above a small bed. Across the room there was a mirror that was attached to a writing desk with maps spilled all over the surface of the desk. This dark room was Prince Zuko's bedroom, otherwise known as his private chamber.

Carefully closing the door behind them using his foot once again; Zuko was relieved for once that it was music night tonight on his ship. With the girl still in his arms, he suddenly felt the Earthbender lean her head against his muscular chest. Looking down at her, he saw her eyes were closed-she was unconscious. The same worried feeling took over him when he realized that she needed some medicine before sundown. Swallowing hard, trying to tell himself that he would not be caught aiding an Earthbender, Zuko gingerly lowered her onto his tiny bed.

Once he was sure that she was still breathing, Zuko quickly left the room and shut the door silently behind him. He had to admit-he was never the greatest at healing others but he knew one person who was. Running down one more flight of metal stairs on the ship, the prince reached the boiling room where the crew loved to hang out and have dinner. "Uncle-" Zuko hissed at the grey-haired man, "I need you to come with me, Uncle..." Zuko stood next to his uncle as he played Pi Xio, an ancient checker-like game, with an older general on the ship. Zuko's uncle just loved to play this game with anyone stupid enough to think that they could beat him at it. "_Now Uncle_," his voice became harder and louder when his uncle told his nephew to give him a few more minutes to finish up the game at least.

Uncle Iroh glanced away from the game board, "Prince Zuko-where is you armor?" he sounded somewhat surprised to see his nephew without his armor on. When Zuko just folded his arms across his chest and simply glared at his uncle, Uncle Iroh finally agreed to come with the prince. "Alright, alright," the uncle sighed depressingly as he got up from his seat and followed his nephew out of the boiling room. "You know I was about to win that game with the general…" Zuko just gave him a glare in response. "What is wrong Prince Zuko? Where is your armor?" he asked as they went up a level on the ship.

Leading his uncle to his private chamber's door, Zuko stopped his uncle from entering for a moment by blocking the doorway. "Uncle-you must _promise_ that you won't be angry with me..." the prince bit his lip as he opened the door and stepped to the side so that his uncle could enter the room once he had promised.

At first glance Zuko's uncle saw nothing strange, but then he spotted the wounded, unconscious girl lying on the prince's bed. "So that is where your armor went to..." Uncle Iroh scratched his grey bearded chin as he thought about what to do.

* * *

"Come on you guys!" yelled a voice from high above in the treetops. A shadowy figure could be seen leaping from tree to tree in a matter of seconds. No matter how far away the next tree was-whether it was one foot or fifteen feet-the steadfast figure could make it to the top without putting much effort into it.

"Slow down Aang!" called back a young girl as she and her brother sprinted through the dense undergrowth trying to catch up with the high-spirited Airbender.

Panting loudly, Sokka muttered some unpleasant words to himself as he started to fall behind his sister's fast pace. "I-wis-h-he-wouldn't-do-this-ever-y-time-he-se-es-some-thing-" the brother mumbled to no one in particular.

"Stop complaining Sokka! Aang said he found something up ahead-" Katara turned her head to glare at him momentarily. "Maybe it's another camp of Waterbenders!" she wanted to meet more of her kind. Katara and her brother hadn't seen very many remaining Waterbenders since their kind was nearly wiped out.

Sokka stopped and snorted in disbelief at her, "Aang just probably found another waterfall...There seems to be an overabundance around here." The truth was all he wanted was something to eat. Sokka mainly thought about two things: food and pretty girls.

"You just want to find some food-" Katara ceased running to glower at her brother since he refused to run anymore.

Denying the truth, Sokka came up with a ridiculous lie to try and get his sister off of his case. Of course she did not believe him and threw a dead snail at his face as she stormed through the forest to find the Avatar. "That wasn't very nice Katara!" he growled at her as he tried to pull the very sticky dead creature off his nose. "_Yuck_-this is disgusting!" Sokka felt a trail of slime slowly dripping down his forehead onto the tip of his nose.

After removing the dead snail and cleaning his face with the back of his sleeve, he jogged after his sister. By the time Sokka had caught up with Katara, she had stopped at the edge of the thick forest. An indescribable sight lay before them, but her brother just rolled his eyes at the beautiful sight. "Another _waterfall_. What did I tell you-" he smirked pleasantly towards his sister because he had guessed correctly.

"You never appreciate the beauty of nature do you!" Katara hotly snapped back at him. Her golden brown eyes narrowed in his direction, "You're hopeless, do you know that Sokka?" When he shrugged in reply to her sour comment, Katara was ready to throw something worse at her brother's annoying face.

Like all relatives, the brother and sister could never get along with one another unless they were in mortal peril. They constantly argued with each other about things which had no great importance to them; like whose turn it was to collect the fire wood for the group. But their arguing was a sign of their affection for each other...it was basically a love-hate relationship they had but at least it was a strong relationship.

Just then they heard a wild cry coming from the very top of the powerful and awesome waterfall, "Watch this you guys!" Aang waved frantically to grab their attention at the very top of the waterfall. Leaping off the watery edge, the young boy dove into the water; after making several aerials moves before he hit the cool water down below. In a few seconds the boy was back on the surface of the water with a smile stretched from ear to ear on his face. "Come on in you guys-the water is just fine!" the Avatar began doing the backstroke while spitting water out of his mouth high into the air.

In each generation, only one bender is capable of controlling all four elements. That bender is known as the Avatar-or Aang in this case. The Avatar is the spirit of the world who manifests in human form; when the Avatar dies, the spirit reincarnates into the next element in the cycle. Aang was born as an Air Nomad, but the Avatar before him was born from the Fire Nation. Throughout the ages, the countless incarnations of the Avatar have served to keep the four nations in harmony.

Aang was easy to spot from far away, on his head and hands were bright blue arrows pointing downwards. He was completely bald, due to the fact that he was raised by Airbending monks in elegant, hard-to-reach Air Temples. Now only being fourteen years old, Aang had mastered all air and water elemental magic and had only begun to learn how to control the earth element. Even though Aang is very young and still but a child, he must do what he can to save the new world around him from destruction.

Like all children his age, he had a huge and open heart-he could only see the good in others. Even though this gives Aang a very innocent perspective on the world, most of the people he meets don't have a very innocent perspective on him. No matter what though, the Avatar continues to believe that everyone has a good-side...including his enemy and hunter-Prince Zuko.

Nearly a hundred years ago, the Fire Nation attacked the other nations. Just when the world needed the Avatar the most, he mysteriously vanished. Now, the Fire Nation is near final victory in its ruthless war of world domination. The Air Nomads were destroyed and all Airbender monks were eradicated. The Water Tribes were raided and driven to the brink of extinction. The Earth Kingdom is the only nation that remains and fights a hopeless war against the Fire Nation.

"Are you sure the water is safe?" Katara asked in a worried voice as she moved closer to the water's edge. She had distinctly remembered what had happened the last time Aang had tried to swim in water he believe to be safe. While the Avatar boy was swimming with a pack of whale coy, a giant sea serpent came up on Aang and nearly devoured him. It was only by pure luck that the Avatar had survived the attack from the great monster.

Glancing around the dark azure-hued water, Aang could not see anything that could be lurking deep down in the water. "I don't see anything here," the Avatar shrugged his shoulders as he continued to float in the calm water with a pleased look on his face.

"Um-Aang...?" Sokka quickly unpocketed his favorite weapon, a blue boomerang, from his warrior outfit. "Then what's that behind you?" all of the color drained from his face as he pointed to something lurking in the water just a few feet behind the Avatar.

Two emerald eyes poked out of the dark water, each about the size of a human fist. Just as the Avatar turned around to see what Sokka was talking about, a long snout and rows of sharp teeth suddenly appeared from the murky water. The creature released a low growl which sent violent ripples through the water. Something told Aang and his friends that this creature wasn't going to be friendly...

"_Run Aang_!" Katara screamed as she watched the dangerous creature swim closer to Aang. Heading to the water's edge, she began moving her hands in a graceful motion until a whip made out of water formed before her. She used the water whip to smack the monster directly across the face. To her dismay, the creature ignored her attack and continued to swim after Aang. "Do something Sokka!" Katara yelled at her brother when her Waterbending skills didn't even cause the creature to flinch.

While Aang was trying to get away from the crocodile-like creature, Sokka had begun throwing his boomerang at the malicious creature's head to get its attention away from the Avatar. The boomerang bounced off its hard scales without leaving a scratch. Throwing his boomerang a second time, Sokka re-aimed at what wasn't covered with scales which ended up striking it right in the eye. In an instant the beast roared and turned away from Aang, swimming to where Sokka was awkwardly standing. "I got his attention-now what about me?" he squeaked. Sokka backed away from the water as the creature came closer and closer. "It can't walk on land,_ right_?" he asked this question to anyone who would hear his cracking voice.

"Quick-climb the trees! It's a croconile!" Aang grabbed Katara by the waist; they went shooting up in the air landing gracefully on a high tree branch.

Meanwhile, Sokka was frozen with fear upon spotting the rows and rows of teeth the croconile had. "Nice croc...nice croc..." he whispered in a tiny voice as the beast hissed loudly. At first the creature moved slowly towards Sokka, but once it was only a few feet ahead of the gangly boy-it came upon Sokka so quickly that he did not have any time to react. Closing his eyes and cowering fear, the Water Tribe warrior could not think of anything else he could do when he saw the sharp teeth coming at him.

He then heard a snapping sound right in front of him; opening one eye gingerly, Sokka found himself just centimeters from jagged white fangs. As he was about to faint, Sokka heard a voice from the top of the croconile's snout. Listening to the voice, Sokka swallowed his fears and sprinted to the nearest tree as fast as he could go.

Violently shaking its head from side to side, the croconile desperately tried to free its gigantic jaws from the rope Aang had quickly tied to save Sokka's life. Growling and grunting in frustration, the beast tried to send Aang flying off the tip of its snout by swinging its head back and forth. The Avatar just rode the croconile's snout like it was a bucking flying bison-smiling and yelling joyful cries as he rode.

When Sokka was safely high above the beasts's sharp, jagged rows of teeth, Aang cut the rope off of the croconile's snout and jumped to the nearest tree branch to get away from its snapping range. Releasing a sigh of relief out, the Avatar gave a thumbs up signal to Sokka and Katara, "It's all good..." he smiled brightly like this entire event was just a game.

Looking down at the creature, Sokka stuck his tongue out at it and began to tease it loudly. "Nyah-nyah...Stupid croconile! Thought you could eat me! HA-HA!" he blew a raspberry.

As if it understood that Sokka was making fun of it, the croconile slammed its long, powerful, green tail against the tree Sokka was in and nearly sent him flying out of the tree. Immediately, the warrior wrapped his arms around the trunk of the tree and released a girlish scream.

Ignoring her brother's high-pitched screams, Katara raised her voice so she could be heard over Sokka's cries for his grandmother. "How long do we have to stay up here?" Katara called from a different tree; she did not enjoy the thought of being stuck in a tree for the remaining part of the day.

Sokka glanced down at the raging beast that was pacing back and forth in front of the tree he was in. The croconile had his jaws free from the rope now, so he snapped them bitterly at the humans in the high trees. "As long as it takes to get that-_thing_-to leave!" he insisted stubbornly.

"Appa!" Aang yelled at the top of his lungs, "He'll come find us soon enough...Along with Momo," he directed this statement to Sokka. "But I could always go get Appa right now..."

"Now would be good-" Sokka's face was still as white as a snowball as he kept a weary eye on the beast circling down below his tree. "Now would most definitely be good..." What Aang and Katara did not know was that Sokka had nearly soiled himself when he thought that he was going to be dinner.

Laughing at Sokka's unhappy and frightened looks, Aang began to leap from tree branch to tree branch humming a happy tune as he went merrily along. This was the way Aang wanted to spend the rest of his life-with his two best friends.

* * *

**Notes: **Re-vamping the story a little bit. Made a few grammar and spelling corrections along the way. A few things have changed, but not much. Also, I am combining a few chapters together since this story will be at least 16 chapters. I will also be changing the last chapter completely and adding two new chapters later today.  
Originally I wrote this story before the 3rd season was out and only the 2nd season was only half-way done. So, the newer half of the story will follow events from the 3rd season and will be darker.  
Apologies to all the readers and fans that I took so long. Vet school eats up a lot of my time.

- Hunter Aug 3, 2010


	2. What Will Happen Now

Staring off into nothing with tired, blood-shot eyes, Prince Zuko was on the verge of nodding off when he suddenly heard the door creak open. He stiffened up, pretending that he wasn't just about to fall asleep while standing guard at his private chamber's door. Even though he hated to admit it, he was worried about the Earthbender's health. "How is she Uncle?" Zuko tried to cover the sound of concern in his voice.

Uncle Iroh wiped his brow with a red handkerchief; his eyes were blood-shot like his nephew's. "She is very weak," he could tell that his nephew was exhausted too, "but she is going to be fine Prince Zuko." He pretended not to hear his nephew sigh with relief, "Where did you find her?" this question had been bothering Iroh for a while now.

"By an Earth Kingdom garden-no one saw her though Uncle, I swear…" Prince Zuko whispered quietly. "You are not disappointed or angry with me because I-" Zuko started to say but his Uncle raised his hand to silence him.

Patting his nephew on the shoulder, Iroh gave him a warm and loving smile. "I am extremely proud to have you as my nephew, Prince Zuko. You are certainly not like your father..." The former commander of the Fire Nation yawned loudly, "I think I will go get some rest now..." he lightly patted Zuko on the shoulder once again and started to drag his feet away from Zuko's private chamber.

"Wait-Uncle-" Zuko grabbed Iroh's shoulder as he was leaving, "Am I suppose to watch her now?" his voice cracked a little bit. The prince had never been in the presence of a young lady since he was five years-old, he didn't know what was proper and what wasn't anymore. To put it very simply: he was frightened to death to be left alone with the female Earthbender.

Smirking crudely at his nephew, Iroh yawned once more before he answered the boy's frantic question. "That it entirely up to you Prince Zuko," with that being said, the old Firebender headed towards his own private chamber.

Befuddled for a moment, Zuko bowed his head respectively to his Uncle and told him goodnight; even though it was about ten o'clock in the morning. Turning to face the entrance to his private chamber, he acted as if he had never been in his own room before. Zuko cautiously tip-toed his way into the room and before he shut the door silently behind him, he could hear his Uncle speaking with one of the crew members. At first he froze when he spotted the Earthbender wrapped up in his blankets and hugging his pillow very tightly, but he soon thawed out when he was absolutely sure that she was still sleeping.

As if he was playing child's game, he nervously edged his way towards his bed and peered down at the sleeping girl. Until now, Zuko had never seen such beauty that would make his heart stop and lose his breath. Before he was led to believe that she had black hair, but now that the blood was gone from her face and the rest of her body-she actually had soft brown hair. As far as he could tell by staring, her skin was softer than porcelain and just as delicate as a flower's petals. Both of her hands were bandaged from the tips of her fingers up to her elbows, her left knee bandage still had blood stains, and it appeared that she had a few bruised ribs that had been bandaged also.

When she stirred in her sleep, Zuko leapt back twenty feet and banged his head against the metal wall causing him to curse loudly. Rubbing his head and swearing about having a ship being entirely made out of metal, he never noticed that he had accidentally woken up the girl. He heard a faint giggling sound. At first Zuko had no idea where it was coming from, but then he glanced over to his bed to see her giggling at the sour face he was making about hurting his head. "What's so funny?" he growled in a bitter voice.

The Earthbender's honey-colored eyes glistened as she spoke to him, "You are..." she said in a very simple tone of voice.

"I am not funny!" he roared in an offended voice as he stubbornly folded his arms across his chest, "You have no right to speak to me like that-I am-"

"Prince Zuko...I know very well who you are," she interrupted him like it was nothing at all. Trembling slightly, the Earthbender sat up to have a better look at her hero; "I used to picture you a little bit larger..."

Zuko stared blankly at her, "Wait-_what_?" he asked a little too loudly and too quickly. He was already beginning to question himself why he had decided to save her life; she was very annoying and outspoken for a girl. _I should have left her at the garden_...

She gave him the same broken smile which had affected Zuko so much before when she had fallen into his arms last night. "Forgive me...I did not mean to offend you my lord," the Earthbender tipped her head at him and lowered her honey-hued eyes away from his. "I tend to forget my place around royalty..." she whispered in a respectable voice. "You look like you haven't slept for hours...you should rest."

This softened his cold expression, _Maybe she isn't so terrible after all_... he thought smugly to himself. "I will be fine...I have spent several days without sleep before," Zuko grumbled in a tough voice. "But...my Uncle told me that _you_ need to rest as much as possible," he lied to her unknowingly. He turned away from her to the closed metal door to leave, the prince heard her weakly call his name.

"Please...tell me what will happen to me now?" the Earthbender asked in a suddenly frightened voice. She was stuck on her enemy's ship, surrounded by hundreds of Firebenders on the dock, and completely alone in the world now.

He hadn't thought about that particular detail just yet, he needed to sleep on it before he could answer her truthfully. For a moment he bit his lip as he searched his mind for something to say that would keep her satisfied. "Nothing right now..." Zuko said as he watched her clutch his pillow between her bandaged hands and fall back asleep; his answer was apparently good enough for the moment.

Leaving his private chamber, Prince Zuko went down one more level of the ship to grab something to eat-he was starving to death. Chewing on an oval-shaped fruit, which could only be found in the Earth Kingdom, he ventured to the ship's deck to see how the war was coming along. The same hot, sticky air hit his face the moment he was outside; black smoke was coming from the north and the west. Sighing loudly as he continued to eat, Zuko knew very well that the battlefield was drawing closer and closer to the docks. In a few short days it would be all over with, for the comet is coming this year…it will arrive in less than two months.

After watching the utter chaos on the dock from the safety of his ship, he tossed the fruit's fist-sized seed into the murky ocean water and watched it sink below the surface. He silently returned to his private chambers and fell into the only chair in his room. Once he was sure that she was still sound asleep, the Firedbender prince leaned back in the chair and drifted off to sleep.

Several hours later Zuko woke himself up when he accidentally tumbled out of his chair, thinking that he was actually asleep in his bed, and landed face-first on the floor. Groaning loudly and grumbling under his breath, Zuko suddenly remembered that the Earthbender was still in his room. When he got to his feet he found himself with a new problem to face-she was gone. _Where did she go?_ he cursed to himself as he quickly scanned his room to see if she was trying to hide from him.

Panicking, Zuko kicked his private chamber door open and then began his frantic search for the injured Earthbender. Since he did not want to draw any attention to himself, he kept a low profile as he wandered through the lower levels of the ship. Just when he was about to have some sort of panic attack because he couldn't find her, the prince found the Earthbender standing silently on the deck of her enemy's ship. Sighing with relief for the second time that day; which was something he didn't do often; he slowly approached the girl.

Even though he thought he was being as silent as the dead, the Earthbender turned and smiled at him sweetly just when he was within arms reach. Strapped loosely on her body was Zuko's chest armor plate and his protective arm covers; he had to admit that she didn't actually look too bad in his armor. As if she had read his mind, she quickly told him that no one had seen her yet except for his uncle. "I never thought I would find myself saying this to a Firebender but..." she bowed as far as her bruised ribs would allow her, "I am at your service until I have paid off my debt for saving my life...My lord," she quickly added in respect. Straightening up and biting her lip to ease the pain, the Earthbender patiently waited for his reaction.

Zuko stared blankly at her, "_Debt_?" he coughed on the word, "You do not need to repay me for anything-" he growled darkly at her.

"Your Uncle said it would be fine for me to sta-" she started to argue with the prince.

"You cannot stay on my ship!" he narrowed his eyes at her, "If I am caught with you on my ship-we'll both be killed..."

She frowned at him slightly, "You think I'm just a child, don't you?"

"Um-er..." Zuko wasn't prepared for that sort of question.

Poking him roughly in the chest, the Earthbender suddenly grew determined in proving him wrong. "How old are you...?" she narrowed her golden eyes and studied his scarred face very carefully, "You're eighteen, aren't you?"

He laughed, "Very good, now it is my turn to guess...You're _five_ aren't you?" Zuko smirked pleasantly when she glared back at him.

"I'll have you know that I am two years _older _than your sorry self! I am a well-respected g-" the Earthbender suddenly grew pale and froze with fear.

"What is it?" Zuko asked in a puzzled voice; he slowly turned his head to see what had drained all of the color from her face. _Not him_, his face darkened and the frown on his face became more profound. Roughly grabbing her arm, Prince Zuko led her swiftly back down to the lower levels of the ship and straight to his private chambers. "Stay in here," he ordered in a stern voice as he pushed her inside his room and then slammed the door on the way out.

_Just stay calm and everything will be alright_..._Just pretend you have no clue what is going on and everything will be fine_... Zuko told himself as he watched his Uncle Iroh lead several unknown Firebenders and their general into his study room. _Everything will be fine_..._just lie to him_. He held his breath as he entered the study room, his most irksome enemy turned around to smirk darkly at him. It was as if Zuko was already in trouble for something he did not yet know of.

* * *

"Isn't it a little odd how Zuko is not trying to search for Aang anymore?" Sokka asked in a very curious voice as he poked the burning embers with a twig he had found before nightfall. The wimpy warrior yawned loudly as he waited for his sister's opinion on the subject, "It has been weeks since he has tried capturing Aang…" He rubbed his stubby chin as he continued to think about it.

Sitting cross-legged in front of the fire her brother had unskillfully made. By saying unskillfully, it is meant to say that the fire continued to die until Katara had finally had enough with being cold and fixed the fire. Her brown eyes locked on the golden flames, "Maybe he has finally given up…" the Waterbender suggested in a skeptical voice.

"I highly doubt that," Sokka frowned at the fire when the flames caught the twig he was playing with. Tossing the twig into the flames, the warrior sighed loudly just before he lay on his back. "Maybe he's planning to do another surprise attack with those archers again…" he subconsciously stuck his thumb through a hole an arrow had made several months ago. Placing his hands behind his head, Sokka peacefully watched the twinkling stars high above him.

Katara tapped her fingers on her right cheek as she lazily watched the burning embers slowly turn to ashes. "It's been two years now…If I was him-I would give up also…" her voice was emotionless. She was still holding a deep grudge against Zuko after he had stolen her mother's blue necklace.

Suddenly, Aang appeared out of nowhere and dropped seven thick branches into the fire to keep it going strong; he snapped Katara out of her thoughts. "I found something…You guys should come see it-" the Avatar pointed to the thick forest directly behind him.

As Katara got back to her feet, she noticed that her brother was not jumping to his feet also to follow Aang. "What are you doing?" she snapped bitterly at her annoying brother, "Did you not just hear Aang? He said he found something!" Katara stubbornly placed her hands on her tiny hips and glared darkly at him.

Yawning loudly, Sokka continued to watch the bright stars without a single care that his sister was angry with him for the fourth time that day. "He probably found another waterfall…" he started to mutter under his breath.

"Oh-will you shut up about that!" Katara picked up a handful of sand and threw it at her brother's face, "Get up! We're following Aang!" she ordered at the top of her lungs.

The warrior dragged his feet in the loamy sand as he followed his sister and the Avatar back into the forest. "I hope we don't meet another croconile…" he spit the crunchy sand out of his mouth.

Deeper and deeper into the forest the three heroes went with Aang leading the brother and sister to a spot that was almost untouched by the weather itself. When the young Airbender was busily gathering wood earlier, he had accidentally stumbled across a crumbling ancient ruin. Standing proudly in front of the stone ruin, Aang puffed out his chest and placed his tiny hands on his hips to add to the effect of his major discovery.

The ancient ruin was about the same size as Appa-or in other words-the size of several small homes. Furry green moss covered the remaining stone pillars and crumbling walls like a thick velvet blanket and brown vines twisted and choked whatever was not covered with green moss. At first glance the ruin just appeared to be a simple building made several hundred years ago, but as the three continued to stare at it-it looked like an ancient temple.

"At least it isn't another _stupid waterfall_," Sokka muttered sourly under his breath. Luckily, neither his grumpy sister nor the young Airbender heard what he was mumbling about with a deep frown on his face.

Katara, obviously very interested with Aang's finding, dropped her jaw in amazement as she stared at the ancient ruin. "Aang-this is probably over five hundred years old..." the Waterbender took a step closer to one of stone pillars to examine the symbols carved into it. Narrowing her eyes as she tried to decipher the miniature symbols, most of which were eroding away over the last four hundred years, Katara was determined to find out what the symbols meant exactly. "Well this one looks like a water symbol..." she exclaimed loudly as she tried to pick away the green moss.

Walking over to his sister's side, Sokka's frown creased even deeper into his forehead, "It looks like three squiggly lines if you ask me..." he smugly folded his arms across his chest.

"That's the water symbol Sokka!" Katara yelled back at her brother bitterly. Carefully, she peeled more of the soggy moss away to see what the second symbol below the water symbol looked like. "The fire symbol!" the Waterbender yelped suddenly when she had recognized the symbol which resembled burning flames. Even more curious about the rest of the symbols on the pillar, Katara began peeling more and more of the moss away until she had finally uncovered all of the symbols on the stone pillar. "This pillar has all of the elements carved into it...this must be a bender temple of some sort..."

Finally tearing her eyes away from the ancient stone pillar, Katara glanced around to see if Aang was paying attention to her findings or not. "Aang?" she poked her head around the pillar to find the young Airbender standing in front of one of the remaining temple walls. "Aang-what is it?"

"What is that...?" Sokka lifted his scrawny arm and pointed at one of the images carved into the stone wall.

At first, Aang did not want to know what the symbol meant; for he had a terrible hunch that it had to something with his future. But as he brought his eyes to look at what Sokka was pointing at, the young Avatar instantly knew what the carving was. "It's the comet..." he whispered in a small voice. "This temple was made to predict the coming comet...the one which will grant the Firebenders' powers to control the world," Aang solemnly looked at the rest of the carvings on the stone wall and knew very well what the rest of them meant.

"But this temple is five hundred years old Aang-how could anyone predict something that far in the future?" Katara was a little skeptical about the ancient ruins being a temple for the coming comet.

Sighing, Aang knew he had to tell his friends the truth about the coming comet someday...he just didn't want to tell them this soon. "I haven't been telling you guys everything..." the Airbender avoided Katara's shocked expression in her eyes and Sokka's puzzled expression.

"What are you talking about Aang?" Sokka turned to face the Avatar and completely forgot about examining the fiery comet symbol he had been so interested in. "What else is there to know about this comet?"

Closing his eyes for a moment to remember his long past, Aang reopened his eyes when he suddenly felt Katara's hand on his tiny shoulder. "You can tell us Aang..." Katara whispered softly to him with her eyes locked on his, "We're your friends...remember? You can tell us anything Aang." The Waterbender was trying to sound reassuring to the Avatar, she could tell that his past was bothering him again.

"The comet passes by the world every five hundred years...Fifteen hundred years ago, just shortly after the different kingdoms of the world were created, the comet passed the world. The moment the comet passed, something undescribable happened and the first Avatar was born to keep the kingdoms in harmony. The first Avatar was born from the Fire Nation...Ever since then-the Fire Nation knew that they were the superior force over the other three nations and they associated the passing comet with their immense power." Aang rubbed the back of his bald head nervously as he thought about what else he should tell his friends, "The comet _will _grant the Fire Nation the power they need to conquer the world...but it will also grant _me _the same power to protect the world..."

Sokka stared blankly at Aang for a moment, "So, you mean to tell us that all of that comet babble is _true_!" he yelled loudly in a peeved tone of voice. "Why didn't you tell us that sooner!" the warrior narrowed his brown eyes at the Avatar, "This is unbelievable..."he grumbled sourly.

Before her brother could say anything more hurtful to Aang, Katara blocked Sokka from yelling in the young Airbender's face by standing between the two of them. "Sokka! Aang had the right not to tell us...he was just worried about us-" the Waterbender started to say in Aang's defense but she was also having her doubts.

"Worried about us? Now there is _no way_ we can stop the Fire Nation from becoming powerful enough to destroy the world! He should have told us about the comet myths being true the second he knew about it-NOT A YEAR LATER!" Sokka was enraged by the fact that Aang had known the truth the entire time and had never told them.

Katara glared at her brother, "You're acting like a child Sokka! Grow up!" she growled as she stood her ground firmly.

"_Me_? _I'm the child_?" he threw his hands into the air violently, "Let me _remind _you that we're following a boy who is younger than us and is supposedly going to _save the world_! How can he save the world from the Fire Nation if he can't even perform a simple Firebending skill, huh? Let's face it Katara-we're going to lose this battle when the comet finally comes..."

As Sokka's words sunk into Aang's mind, he realized that Sokka was speaking the truth... How could Aang save the world if he couldn't even Firebend yet? Even if he was granted with enough power to stop the Fire Nation when the comet comes, would Aang have the strength to carry out his life purpose when the time came? Sokka was right, he was just a child-the other Avatars were older and much wiser than he was...he wouldn't be able to save the world.

"Well, I still believe in Aang!" Katara snapped back in the young Airbender's defense, "I believe Aang will save the world!"

Not taking much more of the yelling and screaming, Aang finally yelled at the quarreling siblings to be quiet and sent a strong gust of air to knock the both of them to the ground. "Stop fighting!" the Avatar ordered in a very strict voice, "I am sorry for not telling you both but-you must know that I did have my reasons for hiding the truth from you..." He knew all too well what his friends were thinking about, "I'm sorry I lied..." Aang whispered in a solemn voice. Locking his eyes on his shoes, the Airbender couldn't bring himself to look either of his friends straight in the eyes anymore.

Finally cooling down, Sokka scratched the back of his neck and shrugged his shoulders at his sister's dark look. "Look Aang-" Sokka sighed loudly, "I shouldn't have yelled at you...I was acting like a-" He paused for a moment and had some trouble finishing the last word of his sentence, "-_child_..." Sokka grumbled unhappily while his sister beamed pleasingly.

"It's okay Sokka..." Aang lifted his eyes and smiled brightly at the warrior, "We all make mistakes..."

Glancing back at the ancient stone wall, Katara took notice of four carved dragon heads with a large hole in each of the dragon's mouths. "Hey-look at this..." the Waterbender took a step closer to the wall and reached out her hand to touch one of the dragon's open mouths. "Why would there be _four _dragons...?" she whispered to herself just as she was about to touch the crumbling stone wall.

Suddenly they heard a twig snap from afar; both Aang and Sokka drew their weapons to face whatever was coming towards them. With their backs turned on Katara, they never spotted nor heard the attackers sneaking up behind them.

As her fingers barely touched the rough surface of the stone, Katara could sense that something was dreadfully wrong. Turning her head slightly to the left, her eyes went wide with fear when she saw a tall man standing right next to her with a sword pointed at her back. The second she screamed, three more men appeared out of nowhere from the cover of the crumbling ruins and attacked Aang and Sokka. While the boys were busy trying to fend off their attackers, the man with the sword swiftly snatched Katara by the wrist and threw her to the ground with a dark look in his eyes. "_We don't enjoy intruders_..." hissed the swordsman as he loomed over the defenseless Waterbender.


	3. The Secret Behind the Waterfall

"We're looking for an Earthbender General who has escaped…" Admiral Zhao grumbled under his breath sourly. The stern Firebender folded his arms across his chest, "We believe that the Earthbender is _here_."

Zuko snorted bitterly at the accusation, "Why would a filthy Earthbender hide here? Just because my father banished me does not make me an enemy of the Fire Nation and an alley of the Earth Kingdom! I would never allow an Earthbender to stay on my ship!" His soaring temper was beginning to get the better of him.

The admiral rolled his eyes at the young prince, "You've broken the rules before–having an Earthbender on your ship would just be _another_ notch on your belt, Prince Zuko."

Before another argument could ensure, Uncle Iroh intervened and asked the commander a few questions. "Admiral Zhao," the older Firebender asked very respectively, "what does this Earthbender General look like? If we see him we would be able to catch him for you…"

"This general is a female–a twenty year-old Earthbender who managed to kill sixteen Firebenders and eluded our best archers and scouts. She is a major threat to the Fire Nation-she needs to be caught _immediately_."

The Fire Prince stiffened, "What is her name?" he asked in a cold and calm voice. _I saved a damn general! This is what happens when you do something nice for someone, you get stabbed in the back for it. I have to get her off my ship…_

"Xhela, General Xhela…" Admiral Zhao muttered to the prince. "She has eluded me once and I _don't_ want that to happen _again_." Zhao narrowed his eyes at Zuko, "If I find out that _you _were the one hiding her–I will make sure _you_ will have a new _scar_ to _match_ the one your father already gave _you_," he snarled. "Mark my words," Zhao smirked in such a way that it made Zuko's throat suddenly dry up.

Narrowing his eyes into tiny black slits, Zuko stood tall in front of the commander. "No woman would be allowed on my ship. So, go look for your escapee somewhere else Admiral Zhao." He would never allow Zhao to have an advantage over him, even if it wasn't for the search for the Avatar. "So if there is nothing else to dicuss…Get the hell off my ship–NOW! _You_ and your men are no longer welcome!" Zuko barked with his fingertips igniting on fire to show his building rage.

Zhao glared at Zuko before he and his guards left the map room without saying another word. Once the intruders were gone, Uncle Iroh raised his eyebrows at his peeved nephew. "Prince Zuko, I told Xhela that she could remain on this ship until she was feeling better-" Iroh started to say in a soft voice.

"She is a GENERAL! How long have you known Uncle?" Zuko yelled.

Uncle Iroh took a step back, "Since yesterday, Prince Zuko… We must allow her to stay until she is well–I promised her that we would."

Fuming about having an Earthbender General staying on his ship instead of just a normal Earthbender, Zuko left before he could pick a fight with his beloved uncle. He stormed back into his room to see what else the Earthbender was hiding from him. Kicking the door open to his private chambers, Zuko found her sound asleep in his bed again. Zuko sighed pathetically, he couldn't yell at her when she was sleeping. His anger soon subsided when he saw her hugging his black pillow again. _You're growing weak_, he thought to himself.

He plopped himself in his chair and decided to take a nap since he had already had a trifling morning. When he woke up, he didn't know how long he had been asleep. But when he had awoken, he found that his bed had been made and that an extra blanket was draped over him. Drowsy for a few minutes, Zuko finally came to his senses and realized that the Earthbender General was missing. "Not again…" Zuko jumped out of his comfortable chair and bolted for the door.

Just as he opened the door, he found a tea kettle before him and the turned head of the Earthebender. She rammed directly into the Fire Prince and nearly dropped the kettle on the floor. "Excuse me Prince Zuko-" Xhela apologized quickly as she grabbed the kettle just before it hit the floor. "Ow-" she whimpered when she grabbed the kettle in an awkward way with her burned hands.

When she straightened up, the Earthbender gave him the same broken smile which had melted his heart so many times before. "I thought you might want a cup of tea…" she said in a warm voice, "You looked so worn out."

Before he knew what he was doing, he smiled back at her. "Thank you," the prince started to say in a kind voice. Once he realized that he was acting sweetly towards her, he stiffened and frowned at her.

"No one saw me," Xhela smiled at him still, "I hope you like green tea…" She held a cup in her other bandaged hand, "Your Uncle said that was your favorite."

Taking the cup lightly from her bandaged hands, he tipped his head in respect towards her. Zuko stepped aside to allow her back into his room before she could be spotted by his crew; it was the least he could do. "You look better," he said in a smooth voice as she brushed past him with the hot tea kettle. When she moved by, he could swear he could smell flowers–irises.

Xhela grinned at the Fire Prince as he closed the door to his private chamber. "I feel better," she sighed, "My hands still sting though…" She whispered softly as she gingerly set the tea kettle on a small table in front of his tidy bed. "They were looking for me–weren't they?" the Earthbender finally asked.

The Firebender froze for a moment; he didn't want her to know that he knew exactly who she was. "No–Zhao was looking for me–I've disobeyed him before. He wants me to stay on the front until the war is over with…" he lied with a completely straight face.

"Admiral Zhao doesn't want to spend a day longer fighting this war in my homeland, does he?" Xhela lowered her head solemnly, "It is very clear now that you Firebenders are determined for total control of the world." She paused for a moment, "But I admire that strong determination, even though it will kill me…" Pushing her long brown hair behind her ears, she gave him the same broken smile.

When he walked over to the table, she poured him a cup of green tea in silence. Zuko stared at Xhela for a moment; she was looking down at her feet–losing herself in her loneliness. He sighed when he had made up his mind, "You are welcome to stay on my ship for as long as you please," Zuko finally said. The prince took a sip of his tea before he could say anything else pathetic and totally unlike him.

Lifting her head, she smiled at him sweetly. "You're only saying that because I made your bed and some tea for you…"

Zuko laughed at her joke, "Yes–you make lovely tasting tea," he took another long sip of his green tea and rolled his eyes.

There was a knock at the Fire Prince's door which made the both of them jump back into the tiny table. "Prince Zuko–may I have a word with you? The crew-" the Firebender slowly pushed the door open, "wants to know when we can go get supplies…" As he stepped inside Zuko's private chambers, the admiral at first did not see Xhela nor Zuko's pallid expression. "We are low on charcoal and-" the young commander finally looked over to the right of the prince. "Who is she?"

Xhela went pale as a sheet and stood still next to Zuko; luckily she still had his Firebender armor on. "I'm your new cook," she smiled sweetly to the twenty-five year-old commander. She hoped that her girlish looks would charm her way out of this awkward situation.

The commander glanced over at Zuko with a befuddled look, Zuko just shrugged in reply. She was quick on her feet; the prince had to give her that much credit.

* * *

"Sorry about that..." said the swordsman in a humble voice towards Sokka, Katara, and Aang. "We honestly thought you were Firebender spies," he carefully slid his sword back into its silver sheath.

Katara smiled at the swordsman to show that no harm was done, "We understand Kalas." The Avatar nodded in agreement with Katara, while Sokka just moodily glared at Kalas and his fellow warriors.

"The Firebenders have been coming here for the past three months trying to capture our remaining Waterbenders... They have stooped low enough to pretend to be Waterbenders themselves. We've been forced to act first and then ask questions later," Kalas, the leader of the Waterbenders, seemed very ashamed by his mistake about the trio. "We've lost twenty warriors in the past month, you must understand why we are taking such extreme measures in keeping this area safe for our families..." The Waterbender leader was around the age of twenty-four, and his three fellow warriors were barely twenty years old. Kalas had long brown hair tied back into a lose ponytail, soft green eyes, and battle scars all over his body.

After Kalas and his warriors tied up the trio, he came to found out that they had accidentally attacked fellow Waterbenders and the legendary Avatar. The trio were immediately untied and Kalas offered his upmost apologies to them for his and his mens' barbaric behavior.

"All of the Firebenders seem to have an interest in this place, for some strange reason..." Kalas glanced around at the ancient runes and let a long sigh out.

"Do you know anything about these ruins Kalas?" Katara asked in a soft voice as she subconsciously brushed dirt and moss off her shoulders.

He shook his head in reply, "We aren't native to these parts...we've only been here for a year." The Waterbender leader lowered his head for a moment as he thought about his past, "Our original home was destroyed years ago... We were forced to search for a safe place from the Firebenders. There use to be sixty of us, now there are only twenty-five left..." Shaking the terrible thoughts from his mind he smiled weakly at the young trio, "You are welcome to stay with our tribe for the night." His fellow warriors all nodded in agreement, "Seeing the Avatar will lift my people's low spirits..."

Aang beamed, "In that case-we will!" Making people happy was one of the greatest things the young Airbender loved to do.

"We would be delighted, wouldn't we Sokka?" Katara eyed her brother darkly until he mumbled an unhappy "yes" and forced a smile on his lips. She had not seen fellow Waterbenders for at least a year. Katara was very pleased to know that more of her people had survived the cruelty of the Firebenders.

Clapping his hands together, Kalas told the trio to follow him and his warriors to his tribe's new home. Along the way, Kalas explained how his people created a secret entrance into a very powerful waterfall without the use of waterbending. He told the trio about his original home; which Katara and Sokka could relate to very easily; and how his people have made adjustments in living in the hidden forests of the Earth Kingdom.

They walked through the dense undergrowth of the forest for what seemed like hours until Kalas stopped abruptly in front of a magnificent waterfall. The waterfall had to be at least thirty feet tall and fifteen feet wide. "We have allied ourselves with the Earthbenders of this region and only they know our secret entrance to our new home...This is why we must have a secret entrance for the Earthbenders-" he pointed to a large boulder sticking out of the waterfall and the pool of water. "The Earthbenders just have to move the boulder to reveal a large enough hole for them to crawl through..." Kalas explained. "Either way-the Firebenders cannot get through and destroy my people..."

Sokka nudged his sister with his pointy elbow, "See-I told you that Aang had found something that involved another waterfall..." he smirked at his sister's scowl.

It was obvious that Kalas had heard Sokka's remark for he turned around and faced the wimpy warrior with a confident smile on his scared face. "There are many waterfalls in this region. My people and the Earthbenders have created these waterfalls to throw the Firebenders off. There are thirty-three waterfalls-all just within twenty miles of each other..."

"That's brilliant Kalas! Having the Firebenders discover the wrong waterfalls and then even if they did find the right one-they can't get in!" Katara seemed very proud to have relatives who were clever enough to outsmart the Firebenders in several different ways.

Kalas laughed at her excitement, "Yes-we tend to think so..." he turned away from the siblings and walked over to the edge of the pool of water. Using several graceful and different hand movements in the air, the powerful waterfall began to split in half and reveal a dark cave. "Welcome to our home," Kalas nodded to the trio and his fellow warriors to enter the cave why he kept the opening clear of water.

Once they were inside the dark and ominous cave, Kalas ordered one of his warriors to pull out a torch and light it. When the trio could see where they were going, they noticed that there were four different pathways for them to take. "Is this another trick to throw the Firebenders off?" Aang asked Kalas in a curious tone of voice.

"Yes," Kalas folded his arms across his chest, "Three of the paths lead to three sleeping croconiles-"

Sokka jumped at the sound of the creatures' names, "Cr-croconiles...?" he squeaked in a tiny voice.

"Oh, you've met one already?" Kalas asked in a smooth voice to Sokka. "Taking the second path to your left will lead you directly to our tribe." He unfolded his arms and took the lighted torch from his fellow warrior and led the group down the second path to the left, "Follow me... My people will be pleased to have visitors..."

Ten minutes of what seemed like they were walking around in circles, the trio could see a bright light at the end of the path. "Welcome to our new home," Kalas led them out the damp cave and stepped to the side so the visitors could see everything before them. He licked his thumb and index finger, cut the flame off on the torch, and handed the smoking torch to one of his warriors.

"Wow..." Aang's jaw dropped at the sight.

"This is amazing Kalas..." Katara's brown eyes lighted up immediately.

Sokka had a thin smile on his lips, "Well-at least this is better than a waterfall..."

Five thick trees were growing around a small spring, each tree had a large stick house at the very top, and the trees were connected together by small rope ladders. Several children were playing with the small spring's water; they were trying to make a simple waterwhip. In the center of the village was a large pool of water where a small spring dumped its water into. Weapons and armor were hung on the rock slate that encircled the entire village. When the trio glanced up, they realized that they were inside an empty volcano.

"This volcano has been dormant for hundreds of years," Kalas smirked. "Even if the Firebenders found out that we were hiding in here, they would have to climb all the way down here to ambush us. Which wouldn't be too convenient for them anyways..." He pointed to the opening at the very top of the volcano, "That hole is big enough to fit three people at a time, no more than that. It's just enough to give my people fresh air, fresh water when it rains, and to have a glimpse of the sky when they can't leave this place."

"Papa!" cried one of the children who were playing around with the spring's water. A little girl in a pink dress sprinted over to Kalas with her arms wide open and a huge smile on her face.

Kneeling down, Kalas scooped his daughter into his arms, placed her gingerly on his right shoulder, and stood back up. "This is my daughter Miuki," he ruffled his daughter's brown hair as she wrapped her tiny arms around his neck and kissed him on the top of his head.

"Are these Earthbenders Papa?" Miuki narrowed her green eyes at the trio as if she was suspecting them of being Firebender spies.

"Actually Miuki, they are two Waterbenders and an Airbender..." Kalas winked to the trio; his daughter was too young to understand what an Avatar was.

Miuki's face brightened, "An Airbender!" she whispered to her father a little bit too loudly. "I thought you said they were gone Papa..." the girl stared at Aang for a few minutes and tried to believe her father that the young monk was an actual Airbender. "He looks too scrawny to be an Airbender, Papa..."

"Well I guess I was wrong Miuki," he whispered back in his daughter's ear. "Why don't you finish playing with your friends...I'm sure Aang will be glad to show you some of his airbending skills after dinner..." Kneeling back down to the ground, his daughter hopped off his shoulder and ran back over to her friends. "She sometimes tends to speak what is exactly on her mind..." he seemed slightly embarrassed by what his daughter had blurted out. "Come, you must meet the rest of my family and tribe..."


	4. A Proof Of Loyalty

At first the crew did not enjoy the thought of having a woman on the ship, let alone being their cook. The male Firebenders refused to go downstairs to the boiler room to have their supper until Uncle Iroh convinced them that Xhela had cooked him the best fish fillet he had ever tasted. Surprisingly, Xhela was a wonderful cook and soon the rest of the crew realized that it wasn't the worst thing to have a woman on the ship.

Uncle Iroh finally had a worthy opponent in Pi Xio, a checker-like board game. He was getting tired of beating the rest of the crew members in less than ten minutes. Besides, he was happy to have someone the same age as his stubborn nephew to keep Zuko in line for once.

Zuko allowed Xhela to keep his Firebender armor since it almost fit her perfectly and so his crew wouldn't become suspicious of her being an Earthbender. He even cleared out one of the weapon rooms on the first lower portions of the ship for her to stay in for the time being. The exiled Fire Prince had no clue why he was acting so kind towards her, except for the fact that she had outsmarted one of his worst enemies.

Two days went by at the dock with no news of Commander Zhao coming back to Zuko's ship to find Xhela and no news of the Earth Kingdom giving up the battle against the Firebenders. The dock was the same as had it always had been, very chaotic and bursting with warriors preparing for battle. Sometimes Zuko would find Xhela watching the frantic Firebender warriors rushing back and forth from the safety of the ship; she always had a concerned look on her face as she watched them all carefully. He couldn't blame her for acting so paranoid.

When it finally seemed like nothing could go wrong for Zuko, the worst was just about to begin. On the third night of the Earthbender's stay on his ship, Zuko was woken up in the middle of the night by a gentle voice. "Prince Zuko..." he cracked open his eyes and frowned at the blurry sight before him until his eyes finally adjusted to his dark room. "Wake up please..." the prince opened his eyes all the way to find Xhela standing next to his bed.

Stretching out his arms above his head and yawning loudly, Zuko raised his black eyebrows at the Earthbender. "What is it?" he scratched the back of his neck as he curiously watched the Earthbender nervously glance around his room. "What is wrong with you? Why are you-"

Xhela quickly placed her hand over his mouth to silence him, "Sshh," she hissed in his right ear, "Listen..."

Cocking an eyebrow at her, he pleased her by shutting his mouth and attentively listening for a few moments. "I hear nothing," he whispered back at her in a peeved tone of voice.

"That's it...I could hear the Firebenders wandering around the dock at nights-now I can't hear anything," the Earthbender General tightened her grip on a leather bag filled to the brim with small round objects. She had Zuko's chest armor on and the leather pads on her arms and legs; it was if she was expecting a huge battle to happen.

Pausing to think back to the past few nights, Zuko realized that she was right. He distinctively remembered not being able to fall asleep for the first few days his ship was stationed at the dock due to the racket made by the numerous warriors.

"I can't find your Uncle Iroh either, Prince Zuko...or the other members of your crew on the lower levels of the ship..." she straightened up when she heard a knock at his private chamber's door.

Grumbling under his breath, Zuko jumped out of his bed onto his feet and took a few steps towards his door. He glanced over his shoulder to see Xhela grabbing a handful of charcoal from the leather bag she was clutching desperately to, and silently move to the other end of his room to hide in the shadows. Taking a deep breath, he opened the door and scowled at the sight before him.

"Prince Zuko, you and your crew are requested to accompany me to Commander Zhao's tent near the front..." stated a Firebender dressed completely in armor. Somehow, Zuko knew that this Firebender was not giving him the option of not going to see Commander Zhao.

"And what if I deny this request...?" the Fire Prince growled in an unhappy tone of voice.

The Firebender smirked, "Your crew already denied the request and they are currently tied to the side of your ship," he muttered darkly. "I suggest you come peacefully or my men will not be merciful in handing you over to Commander Zhao..." He took a few steps closer to the Fire Prince so his body completely blocked Zuko's only exit.

Folding his arms smugly across his chest, Zuko shook his head, "I don't think so..."

Just as the Firebender was creating a large fireball in his hands something smacked him in the middle of his exposed forehead. He froze and gave Zuko a curious look for he had not seen the young prince make a single move. Then another piece of charcoal suddenly flew at his face and hit the Firebender in the right eye.

While the attacker was flinching, Xhela quietly came out of the shadows and patiently tapped the Firebender on the shoulder. When he lifted his head back up, he found the Earthbender standing right before him with a dark look in her eyes. "Have a nice fall," she whispered just before she used a powerful right hook on the Firebender to knock him to the floor unconscious.

Beaming about her accomplishment, she bent down and snatched the two pieces of charcoal from the ground. "That was _way_ too easy," she mumbled to Zuko as she took a step out of his private chambers and into the hallway.

Zuko moved swiftly to grab her by the shoulders and pulled her back into his private chambers just as three fireballs were thrown in her general direction. "Firebenders enjoy backstabbing and using the element of unfair play in our tactics..." he hissed to her while she watched the fireballs scorch the floor where she had been standing a few seconds earlier.

She smiled weakly at him and nodded in reply, "Well, Earthbenders enjoy ambushing and using the element of surprise in our tactics..." Then suddenly, a brilliant plan formed in the back of her mind; she signaled for Zuko to hide back in the shadows where she was before. Silently she dumped all of the contents in her leather bag onto the floor in the doorway to the Fire Prince's private chambers, and then joined him in the shadows of his room. "Watch this," she whispered to him when she heard the footsteps of the other Firebenders coming closer and closer.

"We know you are in here general," one of the Firebenders growled before they stopped directly in the doorway to stare at the odd pile of black rocks on the floor. "What's this...?"

The Fire Prince watched her out of the corner of his eyes, Xhela was making a few quick hand movements in the air to manipulate the charcoal lying on the floor of the ship. In an instant, the pile of charcoal shot up into the air and began smacking and hitting the new Firebender in every direction until he backed out of the doorway and into the hallway once again.

Using this advantage, Zuko came sprinting out of the shadows of his private chambers and attacked the other two Firebenders who had invaded his ship. "How dare you attack _my ship_!" he yelled at the two Firebenders who were clearly no match for the Fire Prince.

Right behind him, the Earthbender General continued to have the pieces of charcoal strike the cowering Firebenders. "If Commander Zhao is so eager to have me over for tea, why doesn't he ever ask me politely, eh?" she lowered her hands so the pieces of charcoal fell back to the floor. "Come on-I'll let you have a try now...It's only fair," Xhela mocked as she stood perfectly still in front of the Firebender.

Yelling out in frustration, the Firebender shot a fireball from his hands right at the Earthbender. He frowned when she simply leaned to the left to miss his fiery attack. Cracking his knuckles, the attacker decided to use brute force on her. Just as he tried to take a swing at her, she ducked down and elbowed the Firebender right in the face to stun him. Once he was stunned, she swiftly kicked him across the face and then folded her arms smugly as he fell to the floor unconscious. "Still too easy," she muttered under her breath.

A few seconds later, Zuko's two attackers fell to the floor unconscious also. "Are you alright?" he was panting slightly.

"Work up a little sweat there, Prince Zuko?" she teased with a bright gleam in her honey-colored eyes. Waving her hands over the pieces of charcoal, they shot back into the air and formed a tight ball right before her. She took her leather bag back out and had the pieces of charcoal return to it.

He snorted in reply to her sly comment, "Let's go find the others..." Zuko mumbled under his breath.

They both ran up the stairs to hear cries of help coming from the far end of the ship. Zuko sprinted in the direction of the cries, while Xhela stopped at the top of the stairs to observe the deck of the ship. _Something is not right here_..._If Admiral Zhao is so keen on having me captured-wouldn't he come himself this time_? _Four meager Firebenders wouldn't have been able to capture the rest of the crew either_... The Earthbender General narrowed her eyes towards the Fire Nation's dock-it was completely deserted. _This is not a good sign_…

"Uncle!" Prince Zuko's bare feet slid across the slick surface of the deck as he heard a very familiar voice coming from the other side of the ship. When he was at the edge of the ship, he peered over the metal railing to find his uncle and the rest of his crew hanging inches above the freezing ocean water. _Shit_! "Uncle, are you alright?" he called as he frantically tried to come up with a solution to save them.

Uncle Iroh lifted his head to see his nephew's panicking face, "Zuko!" he yelped with some surprise in his voice. "Where have you been? We've been tied up for at least twenty minutes here! Where is Xhela?" he asked suddenly in a worried tone of voice.

"She is fine, Uncle," Zuko reassured his beloved uncle as he strained the back of his mind to come up with a plan to save them. He grabbed the metal railing on the side of the shipped as he thought of what to do.

"Zuko!" Straining his neck, Uncle Iroh tried to grab his nephew's attention once again. "Admiral Zhao is here-" he started to warn Zuko.

Just as his uncle's words were registering in his busy mind, Zuko heard malicious laughter coming directly behind him. Glancing quickly over his shoulder, the Fire Prince spotted a tall, stern-looking man stroking his chin with four guards awaiting their orders. "Zhao," he spat through his clenched teeth, "You'll regret what you have done to my Uncle and crew!" the teenage boy turned around to face Admiral Zhao and his minions.

Admiral Zhao smirked at the exiled prince as he continued to make more idle threats, "Just hand over the Earthbender General and maybe I won't tell your _father _about this little _mishap_." His proud and arrogant posture was suddenly ruined by something small hitting the back of his head. "What in the f-" Zhao snarled in a cold voice as he turned around to see what had hit him. "_You_..." he hissed when he spotted Xhela holding a handful of charcoal in her bandaged hands.

"Yes, it's me...Why don't you leave the little prince alone and come pick on someone with a higher bounty on their head, huh?" she snapped back in a harsh tone of voice. "Or am I too much for you to handle all by _yourself_, Admiral Zhao?" Xhela's voice hinted a bit of mocking. She continued to tease him, "I've already escaped you once..."

"Why you little insolent bitch-" Admiral Zhao's hands burst into flames to show his rage. He nodded to the four Firebenders to go finish the Fire Prince, "I'll take care of this _disruption _myself this time..."

She chuckled to herself as Zhao prepared to finish her off once and for all. "Tell me Admiral Zhao-" she teased in a pleasant voice, "how did you _ever _become an admiral? I mean, since you can't even capture a twenty year-old general... Especially when you have the Fire Lord's personal archers and the best benders in the Nation-" she made a tsk-tsk sound, "-following your every order…Yes, the announcement of your new position was quite a surprise to me," Xhela chimed in a sweet voice just to piss Zhao off even more.

"Because I never thought _you_ were _worth_ this much _effor_t," he barked darkly at her as he took a step towards her. "But now I will finish you off to please my Fire Lord's wishes..." Zhao narrowed his cold black eyes into tiny slits as he waited for her to make the first move, "Ladies first..."

Zuko glanced down at his uncle, "I'll be right back Uncle!"

"Wait! Zuko! What's happening up there?" Uncle Iroh sighed loudly when he could no longer see his nephew's scowling face above him. The elder Firebender could hear the crew moaning next to him about something, "Why do I feel so cold all of a sudden…?" he glanced down to see that the level of the ocean water was to his knees. It took him a second to register in his mind that the water level was steadily rising. "ZUKO! THE WATER IS RISING! HURRY!"

Ducking and dodging fireballs and fists, Zuko slipped and slid across the smooth surface of the dock. _I'll definitely work up a sweat now_…

"SOME OF US CAN'T SWIM!" Uncle Iroh bellowed at the top of his lungs when he could see smoke and fireballs being shot above his head.

"I know-I KNOW!" Zuko kicked a massive fireball towards two of the intruding Firebenders, "Uncle-I'll be there to help you in just a few minutes!"

_Are you ready? _Xhela thought to herself silently as she tightened her fists around the pieces of charcoal. Taking in a deep breath, she gathered all of her courage as she went at Admiral Zhao with everything she had. She ran at him like she was going to try to knock him out but faked at the last second and kicked Zhao right in the face with the middle of her shoe.

Blood began dripping down his nose and his chin, "You little slut..." Zhao snarled in a dark voice as he wiped the blood away from his mouth, "_How dare you_ _think you can beat me_!" In a heated rage, literally, he swung at her multiple times with his hands still burning violently.

She barely managed to get away from his flaming fists; her hair was badly singed in the process. Xhela just had enough time to jump out of the way of Zhao's larger fiery fist slamming down on top of her. As he was pulling his hand out of the large dent he had made in the ship's deck, she lightly landed on his bent knee with one foot and then flipped herself with her other foot knocking Zhao directly in the chest.

Zhao hit the deck hard from Xhela's kick, but she had accidentally reopened one of her wounds in the process. Gripping her side, she waited to see if Admiral Zhao would get back up to fight her once again. She felt something wet and warm dripping from the hand that was holding her side, it was blood. _No_, _not now_…

While Xhela and Zhao were busy trying to destroy one another, Zuko was sliding all over the deck in his bare feet trying to dodge the Firebenders as he tried to find some rope to save his crew and uncle. Zuko finally found a rope long enough to drop from the railing of the ship, the problem with was that it was tied to a long metal rod. Untying the knot with one hand, the exiled prince shot small bursts of flames at Zhao's benders with the other. He quickly stomped the fire out with his bare feet when one of the fiery attacks landed on the end of the rescue rope.

The blows she had dealt him were quite devastating, but Admiral Zhao was determined to not pass on the opportunity of finally capturing the Earthbender. Placing his hands behind his head, he pushed himself back to his feet and immediately went at Xhela.

Quickly, Xhela released her side and made three graceful movements to send a wall of charcoal to block the three whips of flame Zhao had thrown at her. But while she was busy defending herself from the flames, the admiral slipped by her protective wall of rock and knocked her to the ground with a hard punch to her stomach.

She instantly fell to her knees; he had punched her in the same spot he had done several days before. Tears fell from her honey-colored eyes as she gripped her bleeding side to try and stop the throbbing pain.

Looking down at her, Zhao smirked triumphantly, "Did you think you could defeat me? Not even your own _brother_ could defeat me in battle...and look what happened to him-_he's dead_."

Zuko had just knocked the final attacking Firebender into the ocean when he heard Xhela scream out in pain. He bolted to the other side of the metal deck to find Zhao standing over the girl like he was already victorious in killing the annoying general. Dropping the rope, Zuko decided to ram himself right into Zhao, knocking the both of them to the ground. The Fire Prince clamored to his feet, but he was slower than the admiral.

"You father won't be pleased to hear about this-his son desperately trying to save an Earthbender," Admiral Zhao loomed over Zuko with a triumphant look in his cold black eyes. "And how you died trying..." he added with a sneer.

Three pieces of charcoal smacked the back of Zhao's head again, "You must be joking-" he snapped as he turned around to find Xhela back to her feet with a determined look in her eyes now. "You still want to fight do you?" Zhao forgot about Zuko, thinking the teenager was not worth the effort today, and went after the Earthbender instead. "This time, I'll make sure you stop breathing!"

Rushing towards her, he took a swing at her with his hands burning furiously but she ducked underneath him and slid right between his legs. Before he could react, she quickly did a hand stand and kicked Admiral Zhao in the back of his head with her heel. He flew right into the railing of the ship and knocked his head on it. With Zhao temporarily stunned, Zuko took this advantage and dumped the commander off the side of his ship with a swift kick to the chest. "Hope you can swim Zhao!" Zuko called brightly from the deck of his ship.

Once the main threat was off of his ship, Zuko snatched the rope he had successfully untied and tied one end to the railing. He then told his uncle and the crew to grab the other end of the rope just before he sent a small flame at the rope that was holding them to the side of the ship. Helping each of them back on the deck, Zuko barked at his crew to weigh anchor to get away as quickly as possible from the dock. The Fire Prince never looked at the Earthbender until his uncle asked what had happened. "Well-" Zuko started to say as he glanced over his shoulder to see if she would help him answer the question.

Closing her eyes for a moment, Xhela gave Zuko the same broken smile, pretending that nothing was wrong. Taking a step forward and opening her mouth to explain, Xhela cried out in pain and fell face-first on the deck.

Zuko and Uncle Iroh immediately rushed to her side. The young Firebender picked her up from the ground and wrapped her arms around his neck, "Xhela...?" His golden yellow eyes softened for a brief moment, Zuko was concerned for her.

"Hey…"again she smiled weakly at him, "you know my name..." she whispered before her eyes rolled to the back of her head.


	5. The Future Is Revealed

"I want you to find her – dead or alive! Do you understand me!" Admiral Zhao slammed his fist down on his map desk. "Do whatever it takes to capture that little bitch..." he snarled in a cold voice. Zhao was still peeved by the fact that the Earthbender General had escaped his clutches again.

The Firebender brushed her long black hair behind her ears and curtly nodded in reply. "What about Prince Zuko? You said the boy was with General Xhela when they were last seen..."

He narrowed his dark eyes at the famous bounty hunter, "I want him alive... He has to be breathing so he can face the wrath of the Fire Lord." Zhao smirked at the thought of the defeated Fire Prince being punished by his father once again for dishonoring the Fire Nation.

June, the best bounty hunter in the Fire Nation, nodded again as she snatched the two bags of gold from Admiral Zhao's hands. "Prince Zuko will most likely head to the last sanctuary in the Earth Kingdom," she started to explain.

She had been hired by Prince Zuko a while back to help him capture the Avatar. They were unsuccessful of course, but the bounty hunter had learned some valuable information about the Fire Prince. She was very young to be in the business of being a bounty hunter; she was about twenty years old. Long, jet black hair covered most of her face and the tattoos etched into skin on the back of her neck. Her black and red tattoos stretched from her neck to around her shoulders and down to her wrists.

"I don't care how you find them-just bring Xhela's head directly to me! I want them as soon as possible-they are a threat to our conquest to total dominance!" Zhao yelled sharply at her. "And don't bother me until you find them!" he bitterly pointed at the wide hole in the red and orange Fire Nation war tent.

She bowed her head in respect to the admiral and stuffed the coins into her leather pack as she backed out of the war tent. "One decapitated Earthbender coming right up, Admiral Zhao..." she hissed in a cool voice just before she disappeared into the darkness.

* * *

Aang cracked his eyes open when he heard footsteps nearby. He was sleeping next to his pet flying bison, Appa. Closing one eye and leaving the other slightly open, the young Airbender watched as four men entered the waterfall sanctuary led by the Waterbender leader Kalas. Pretending that he was asleep still, Aang listened in on the group's conversation.

"The Fire Nation is pushing closer to the walls of our kingdom..." one Earthbender whispered solemnly. "Our warriors are weakening at the front... Forty of our men have been brutally killed and thirty have been badly wounded. We cannot hold out much longer Kalas."

Another Earthbender nodded in agreement with his fellow warrior, "We have received even graver news that General Xhela has been captured-"

"Captured?" Kalas had a concerned look on his face now, "By the Fire Nation?"

"No," whispered the oldest member of the group. "We have a report that Prince Zuko is the one who has captured her... He will most likely use her as ransom or force her to reveal the remaining hidden sanctuary areas that we have in our kingdom. Prince Zuko must know that the Avatar is here Kalas! Your people are in grave danger-"

"How can Prince Zuko hold her for ransom against the Earth Kingdom?" Kalas interrupted, "She is just a strong-willed general...nothing more than that, correct?" He was a bit confused about the growing situation.

The first Earthbender calmly answered Kalas' question while the other three lowered their heads as if they were already defeated. "General Xhela is the step-sister of the Queen... She is of royal blood-"

"She and her brother are the only members of the royal family who have fought with our warriors on the front... General Xhela is a hero to our people-she is a symbol of our hope against the Fire Nation," explained the elder Earthbender. "If we do not pay the ransom that the Fire Prince will be asking for, our warriors will no longer fight to save our kingdom..." he sounded very depressed about the thought of losing all of their warriors.

Now understanding how important and grave the matter was, Kalas suggested that they continue their conversation up in one of the treehouses. "We do not want to wake up our young heroes just yet... They need their rest-for tomorrow may be the last day," Kalas sighed patheticly to his Earthbender friends.

Once they were gone, Aang sat up carefully so he would not disturb Appa or Momo, who was sleeping on top of Appa's large, round head. _Why would Prince Zuko want an Earthbender General for? She would not know that I'm here since she was fighting with the Firebenders for several days now... Besides, Zuko does not know I'm here either. He still believes that I'm near the Air temples searching for more clues to my past. _The young Airbender rubbed the edge of his chin as he thought more about the current situation. _Prince Zuko would not want to hold anyone hostage that I don't know about... He's too clever for that sort of thing. But he wouldn't want to hold a royal member of the Earth Kingdom for ransom either though...he doesn't care about the war right now. _

Glancing down at the soft, loamy soil, Aang began drawing little designs and symbols into the soil as he tried to concentrate about the possibilities to what Prince Zuko is planning. The Avatar sighed softly to himself as he subconsciously continued to draw in the dirt. Finally, he lowered his head to see what sort of images he had made. Surprised at what he staring at, Aang couldn't believe that he had just drawn the same carved image that he had found at the ancient ruins. He leaned closer to the dirt to examine the drawing he had made in the soil.

His eyes fell on the fiery comet, the object that would bring the Fire Nation their world-conquering powers and Aang his powers to stop the Fire Nation. Next he looked at the human figures below the flaming comet. Three of the figures had flames drawn around them, symbolizing that they were from the Fire Nation. Two had the water symbol drawn and one had the earth symbol drawn onto their foreheads. Standing between the Firebenders and the other benders was a small human figure with several different symbols covering their body. Aang knew that this small human was him, the Avatar. Examining the other human figures closely, Aang came to realize that the two of the figures were Sokka and Katara. He could not recognize the Earthbender but finally came to the conclusion that it was a female. Standing next to the female Earthbender was a male Firebender, but Aang could not recognize this man either. Next he looked at the powerful and dangerous Firebenders. The tallest of the three had a crown drawn above his head, this was the Fire Lord. The next was slightly shorter Firebender who was standing in a military position. Aang stared blankly at the last Firebender; this was the same Firebender figure who was standing to fight against the Fire Nation.

As Aang spent several more minutes trying to figure out who the double Firebender was, the Airbender suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder. Nearly jumping right out of his skin, Aang quickly turned his head to find Katara's soft warm smile next to him. "You scared me Katara," he whispered in a relieved voice.

"What are you looking at Aang?" the Waterbender tilted her head to the side as she curiously examined the drawing in the soil. "Isn't that the drawing we found on one of the walls in the ancient ruins?" she watched him nod silently. "Do you know what it means yet...?" Katara asked in a soft voice; she didn't want to make Aang uncomfortable with talking about what lies ahead of them.

"Some parts I understand, some parts I don't," Aang sighed once again.

Katara seemed to understand how hard it was for Aang to realize what his destiny was going to be. "Don't worry Aang," she wrapped her arm affectionately around his shoulders, "Sokka and I will always be by your side until the very end..."

Glancing back at the two familiar figures, Aang smiled weakly at Katara, "I know..."


	6. Please Save Me

"Which one of you betrayed the rest of us to Zhao? HUH!" Zuko narrowed his eyes at the entire crew, who were lined up on the deck of his ship. "Which one of you betrayed me...?" He cautiously walked down the line of crew members until he stopped in front of one certain crew member. "You're the one," he growled in a cold voice when he faced the bald-headed Firebender. Zuko should have known better not to hire the newest crew member three months ago; the old man was obviously a paid spy. "Answer me!" the Fire Prince grabbed the traitor by the scruff of the neck.

Stuttering for a moment, the Firebender begged for mercy and forgiveness from Prince Zuko. "Admiral Zhao was offering a large bounty for her-he was going to find her sooner or later-"

Zuko threw the old man to the floor without a single care, "You're a damn traitor-" he spat bitterly.

"She's an Earthbender, Prince Zuko," the traitor started to say in his own defense. "She would have betrayed us sooner or later too-" he began.

In a heated rage, Zuko snatched the traitor from the floor of the deck and lifted him to his eye level. "_Sooner or later_?" he snapped in the old man's face. "She saved everyone's hide here by distracting Admiral Zhao from me trying to free you! She could have abandoned the ship and not have warned me what was going on-_but she didn't_! I should _kill _you right here-" Zuko's hands tightened around the traitor's weak neck.

"No-no-please-Prince-Z-Zuko," he struggled for air as tears began running down his cheeks. "Hav-e m-ercy-"

The Fire Prince dropped the traitor back to the ground, "_Mercy_?" he growled in a cold and emotionless voice. "I'll show you mercy-" he grabbed the old man and suddenly threw him off the ship into the frozen ocean water below. "Drown or get devoured by the damn sea monsters!" Zuko yelled as he watched the old man fight the ocean's waves to keep his head above the surface of the water. "That's my _mercy _for _you_!"

He turned back around to see the rest of the crew members' shocked and startled expressions. "What are you staring at?" the Fire Prince snapped at them all, "Get back to work! Unless...someone else here wants to tell me something that I don't know-"

As the crew shook their heads in reply, they scrambled back to their posts without making any sudden movements or sounds. They didn't want to anger the prince any further; most of them didn't know how to swim.

Folding his arms stubbornly across his chest, Zuko was worried more than ever. Xhela's condition had worsened since last night and his uncle was trying all he could for her-but Uncle Iroh did not seem too confident about his healing skills this time.

"Prince Zuko," his uncle came out to the deck to speak privately with his beloved nephew. "I can't do anymore for General Xhela," Iroh placed his hand on Zuko's right shoulder, "She will not live to see the next sunrise I fear..." Uncle Iroh said softly.

Zuko looked away from his crew members and glanced over at his uncle with a solemn look in his eyes. "What can I do?" he whispered. _This is all my fault-she would have been safer if I had not allowed her to stay on my ship_...

"The Earthbenders and Waterbenders would know how to heal her wounds," the elder Firebender sighed. "You could take the small boat and reach the Earth Kingdom sanctuary-" he started to suggest in a hopeful tone of voice.

"You want me to go into enemy territory to see if they will heal her?" Zuko hissed in reply when he knew where this was going. "They would _kill_ me before I could explain myself-"

Uncle Iroh tapped his index finger on his bearded chin as he tried to come up with a different plan but he eventually shook his head. "It's the only way if you want General Xhela to live, Prince Zuko," he said without any emotion in his voice. He knew his nephew was a very stubborn man, but he knew that Zuko would do the right thing in the end.

Sighing loudly, Zuko considered all of the options he would have if he was stuck in the Earth Kingdom for several days. "Uncle," he lowered his head to avoid any eye contact with him, "What if I am captured by the Earthbenders?"

"Xhela would keep you safe Prince Zuko-" his uncle reassured him with a soft smile. "But if you do not hurry-there will be no chance of saving her life," Uncle Iroh sadly watched the open ocean from behind his nephew. "You found the traitor-didn't you Prince Zuko?" he asked quietly when he knew that the ocean had been disturbed somehow.

Nodding, Zuko smirked slightly at the thought of throwing the traitor off his ship again. "I did," he began to think about what to do with Xhela. He finally came to his decision, "I will take the commander with me on the small boat then," Zuko said firmly. "Immediately."

"Are you sure that this will work Prince Zuko?" asked the commander in a small voice as their tiny boat rapidly approached the shore. "What if they won't believe what we tell them? What if-" he was silenced by a short glare from the Fire Prince.

Zuko sternly folded his arms across his chest, like he always does, "Just watch for an ambush, that's the last thing we need right now." He glanced over his shoulder to see Xhela was shivering next to the commander. Zuko wearily kept one eye on the weak Earthbender, "We must hurry..."

While their boat was drawing closer and closer to the shore, the Earthbenders were gathering around the beach preparing for battle. "Why is there only one boat? Where are their warships?" an admiral asked all of his scouts in a befuddled tone of voice. "Are the Firebenders that damn _cocky_ to think that they can defeat us with _one boat_? When they are in range-" he directed his order to twenty of his strong benders, "smash the boat until it sinks beneath the water. Take no prisoners this time," the admiral growled.

"Wave the flag-" Zuko barked at his older commander, "before we get killed here!" he roughly handed him a white flag. Before the commander could ask the Fire Prince what was the point of crazily waving a surrendering flag, Zuko went over to where Xhele was lying. "Hey," he whispered to the wounded Earthbender just as he gently lifted her into his strong arms. "Stay awake Xhela," Zuke raised his voice to wake her up. His uncle had made specific orders for Zuko to keep Xhela awake the entire time.

Cracking open her eyes, the Earthbender locked her honey-colored eyes onto his when he had said her name. "Where have you taken me?"

The Fire Prince glanced out at the Earthbenders storming the shore; they were only one hundred feet away now. "We're at your home Xhela," he whispered as he watched her give him the same weak smile.

"On my word we attack," ordered the admiral in a stern and disciplined tone of voice. Raising his hand into the air, he was just about to yell out fire when one of his warriors suddenly noticed that the boat was madly waving a white flag. "It is just some form of a trap," the admiral muttered when he saw the flag. "Never trust Firebenders," he added in a loud voice so all of his warriors could hear.

"But sir," the same warrior who had spotted the flag interrupted his commanding officer again. "I think General Xhela is on that boat-" he said as he squinted his eyes at the three figures on the boat.

The admiral rolled his eyes, "General Xhela was captured by the Fire Prince-"

"That _is _the Fire Prince-" the warrior ecstatically pointed at the young teenager on the boat, "he has General Xhela with him!"

Not believing him at first, the Earthbender Admiral flipped around to pull out a small telescope, from one of his leather bags, to have a better look at the figures on the boat. "Ping is right," he coughed out the words in astonishment. He quickly moved his telescope to scan the rest of the ocean, "I do not spot any warships or any other ship for that matter..." Folding up his telescope, the admiral thought about what to do now.

"Your orders sir?" Ping asked in a very curious tone of voice.

Sighing out loud, the admiral ordered his warriors to stand ready to capture the two Firebenders. "Make sure General Xhela is not harmed in the process of capturing the Firebender scum!" he barked at the top of his lungs.

"Do you think that it's working?" Zuko's commander asked in a low whisper. Their boat was now only thirty feet away from the shore of the Earth Kingdom.

Zuko did not dare to make a move as twenty Earthbenders circled the edge of the shore preparing to attack. "Do not do anything, don't fight back if they try to capture us-understand?" he received a nervous glance from his commander.

"They-won't-" Xhela coughed when she overheard the instructions Zuko was giving to the other Firebender, "-attack you..." She opened her eyes to find Zuko's concerned face looking down upon her. "Just-t say...hope..." tears were streaming down her face; her pain was intensifying.

The Fire Prince was about to say something to Xhela but their ship had reached the shore of the Earth Kingdom. Trying to act as calm as possible, Zuko stared blankly at the twenty warriors while his commander began trembling with fear.

"Why are you here? What have you done to our general?" yelled the admiral as he muscled his way through his twenty warriors to face Zuko by himself. "Well!" the Earthbender snapped at the Fire Prince, "What do you have to say for yourself?"

Glancing down at Xhela for a moment, he noticed that her eyes were closed once again. _Xhela_... Zuko lifted his head high and stared the admiral down with a dark gleam in his eyes. "Hope," he finally whispered in a smooth voice.

* * *

"How long have we been in here?"

Lifting his scarred face to have a better look at the pacing commander, Zuko gave his fellow Firebender a crude smirk. "Not even two days yet..." he cracked his knuckles loudly.

"How long will we be stuck in here do you think?" the Firebender commander asked in a weary voice.

Zuko lowered his eyes and stared down at his padded shoes for a moment, "Until they know for sure that we do not pose any sort of threat to them..."

"How on earth will they decide that? We've been their enemy for over a hundred years-what will suddenly make them change their mind?"

Before Zuko could reply, the two Firebenders heard someone approaching their prison cell; the Firebender commander fell silent. They then heard the voices of the two Earthbenders, who were guarding their cell to make sure that the enemy would not escape. "General," whispered both of the Earthbenders in a highly respectful voice. "Have you come to see the enemies we captured on the beach?" one of the guards asked politely.

"No," replied the general in a dark voice. "I've come to relieve you both of your duties... I had your meals sent up to your rooms..."

There was a long pause, "But-" the Earthbenders began to argue in a whiney tone of voice. "The princess told us to stand guard here no matter what-"

"I have spoken with my sister already," the higher-ranking general barked at the two guards. "Now go before I _permanently remove_ _you _from your duties!"

Zuko heard the two guards scurry away from the prison cell like they were dogs running away with their tails between their legs. _What cowards_, he thought sourly to himself. As the solid rock prison door was slowly opening, Zuko climbed to his feet and signaled for his commander to do the same. _The least we can do is face our death with honor_... he suddenly dropped his jaw when he saw who was standing before them.

Stepping into the prison cell, Xhela tossed Zuko his warrior helmet and his armored chest plate. "Don't look so shocked to see me," she winked playfully to Zuko. "The princess would like to meet you both," the Earthbender General gestured them to follow her out of the prison.

While the commander reluctantly started to move towards the exit, Zuko stood his ground with his polished armor still in his rough hands. "No-you have to explain everything to me first before I start following you anywhere..." he narrowed his eyes at her.

Sighing loudly, Xhela stubbornly placed her hands on her hips to show her frustration. "What would you like to know?" When she noticed his surly expression, she tried to smile at him but his cold eyes made her think twice before doing so. "My parents were of royal blood... I used to be a princess, but when my mother died-my father remarried. I was in line for succession after my brother, but being a princess suited my half-sister better than it did for me. I'm a warrior…not a peacemaker." Xhela nervously pushed her soft brown hair behind her ears, "My half-sister wants to meet my _rescuers_..." She added meekly, "I will not allow anything to happen to you two."

The second her soft eyes made contact with his, the Fire Prince instantly felt warm and safe. _She's been trustworthy so far_... he placed his warrior helmet over his head. "Lead the way..." Zuko finally cracked a small smile in the girl's direction to show his slight trust in her.

Once inside the main royal chamber of the half-destroyed Earthbender Kingdom, Xhela signaled for Zuko and his commander to sit down in front of an elaborate hand-carved wooden table. "I will fetch my sister," she silently exited the royal chamber.

"She recovered quickly," Zuko's commander commented in a suspicious tone of voice. He cowered and quickly apologized when Zuko shot him a dirty look for saying anything bad about her.

"Earthbenders use strong herbal medicines to heal their injured...that's why they've lasted the longest against us, Sohrab," the Fire Prince barked at his commander.

Sohrab gave Zuko a curious expression, "You're starting to _like_ the Earthbender, aren't you?" He grinned from ear to ear when he saw Zuko turn beet red with anger, "I thought so..."

"Don't begin making idiotic assumptions Sohrab!" Zuko slammed his fist down on the wooden table.

While the two Firebenders were arguing back and forth with each other, Xhela and her royal sister entered the chamber with their eyebrows raised in each other's direction. Clearing her voice loudly, the general introduced his sister to her saviors. "I present to you Prince Zuko and Commander Sorhab of the Fire Nation," her eyes momentarily met with Zuko's. "This is Princess Celia," she stepped behind her sister so the Firebenders could shake hands with the princess.

Princess Celia wore a flowing white gown made of the finest silk, a beautiful white oak crown, and pearl earrings. Her smooth hazel-colored hair nearly touched the floor as she stepped forward to warmly greet her sister's heroes. "So..." Celia's eyes narrowed into tiny slits of brown for a moment, "You were the ones who saved my sister for me?"

"Yes," Zuko muttered in a humble tone of voice.

"My sister has also informed me that you, Prince Zuko, have saved my sister's life more than once. Is this correct?" her pearl earrings jingled as she tilted her head to the side.

Again, trying to show no signs of ignorance towards the princess, Zuko meekly replied "Yes."

Clapping her hands together, Princess Celia bowed her head before Zuko and praised him for saving her beloved sister's life. "Then that is settled then," she turned away from the Firebenders and lightly touched Xhela's shoulder, "You will remain with them until your debt is finally paid off."

Zuko's jaw dropped, "What? Wait-" his face grew very pale with the thought of having Xhela back on board his ship. "She can't-" he started to protest with the princess.

Turning sharply around with a dark look in her brown eyes, Celia stared the Fire Prince down. "It is in our beliefs that we must remain under the service of those we are in debt to until we are able to repay them for their kindness." The princess exchanged looks with her older sister before she continued on, "I hope that you will not dishonor my sister by declining her repayment for your kindness..."

_Honor_... Zuko knew how much people these days valued their honor and pride. Without honor, people were considered lost...soulless... Lifting his dark eyes, he noticed that there was a different look in Xhela's eyes-longing. In truth, Zuko did not want anyone else to take the same pain he had done for dishonoring their people's beliefs, especially Xhela. "I accept," the Fire Prince kept his eyes on Xhela's sweet face as he said this. "She can stay on my ship until her debt is finally paid," he ignored Sorhab's shocked expression.

After Princess Celia and Xhela left the room and it was just the two Firebenders, Sorhab let out a long whistle in astonishment. "Zhao will be hot on our trail for the rest of the trip then, won't he?" Sorhab grumbled unhappily. "Why on earth do you want _her _to _stay_ on the ship with us?"

Feeling somewhat like he was in a daydream, Zuko gave his commander a cunning smile as he thought about having Xhela back on the ship with him. "I promised my uncle that I would bring back his favorite Pi Xio opponent," he whispered in reply.

* * *

Watching the ocean waves slam into the rocky beach, Xhela sighed with some relief. Her kingdom had survived another day of battle and her homeland was still unharmed. Rubbing her hands together to keep them warm, Xhela just so happened to glance down at her feet. A delicate white flower was still blooming in light snow storm; the people of the Earth Kingdom called this flower the "snow goddess." Gingerly picking the flower up from the frozen ground, the Earthbender could feel the snow goddess growing limp in her hands. The flower did not enjoy the warmth it was receiving from her hands.

"Beautiful, isn't it?"

Xhela lifted her head to see Prince Zuko standing next to her in a military stance; he glanced away when her eyes locked onto his. "Yes...this is the only place where you can see the sun set and the moon rise over the ocean's horizons almost at the same time."

He nodded curtly in reply, "You must be happy to be home again..." Zuko seemed to be a bit disappointed about something.

"Yes," she guessed that he was missing his home terribly now, "Thank you for bringing me back..." The Earthbender smiled weakly at him which made Prince Zuko grow bright red with embarrassment.

Zuko nervously glanced back at the scenic ocean view for a few moments as he thought of something else to say to her. _Just come on, say something interesting to her besides the ocean is beautiful_... "Your sister seemed pleased to have you home," he commented in a low voice.

The Firebender heard her snort disapprovingly about the subject, "My sister did not miss me one bit..." she growled darkly.

"Surely your brother missed you-" Zuko started to say but Xhela suddenly stiffened without warning.

Xhela glanced down at the snow goddess flower in her scarred hands and said nothing until the wind blew the flower out of her hands and away into the air. "He's been dead for three weeks..." she swallowed hard and strained to keep an emotionless face in front of the Fire Prince.

Lowering his head, Zuko gently placed his hand on her shoulder and uncharacteristically gave her a soft look. "I am sorry for your loss..." he whispered sincerely to her.

She nodded, "I am sorry that you can't return home..." Xhela wearily glanced at his hand that was still on her shoulder. _So, this is the true you_? _Maybe there is still hope for you yet_... "Your Uncle Iroh must be worried sick about you..." she smiled softly to him, "We'll return to your ship in the morning if you like."

As she turned away, she felt his hand slip off her shoulder and brush up against her scarred hand for a split second. "Xhela-" Zuko coughed out when she began walking back towards the stone castle. The second her honey-hued eyes met with his, he suddenly felt warm all over like he had felt so many times before whenever he stared into her eyes. "You don't have to come back with m-us," his cheeks turned a light shade of pink.

Xhela stepped back so she was face-to-face with the Fire Prince; there was a gleam in her honey-colored eyes. "Get some rest..." she whispered in a soft voice before she tore her eyes away from his and headed back to her home. _Sometimes your heart is too soft Xhela…_


	7. The Capture

Waving goodbye to their new waterbending friends, Aang, Sokka, and Katara climbed onto Appa's back with bright grins on their faces. It always warmed their hearts to know that there were still benders out in the world standing up against the Fire Nation. "Yip-yip!" Aang called at the top of his lungs so his flying bison would hear him over the Waterbenders' cheering voices.

Once the heroes were up high in the air, floating along with the white wispy clouds over the coast of the Earth Kingdom, Sokka and Momo immediately began searching for something to snack on. Rolling her eyes at her brother's actions, Katara sat next to Aang at the front and happily watched the fluffy clouds pass by them.

"I hope Kalas and his family stay safe," Katara commented in a nonchalant tone of voice. "I really liked them...they were wonderfully generous people, huh?"

The Avatar simply nodded in reply to her comments.

Katara frowned at Aang for a moment, "Is there something wrong Aang?" she didn't like the fact that he was giving her a cold shoulder.

"I was just thinking about what Kalas and those Earthbenders were talking about the other night..." he gave her a fleeting glance to prove that he wasn't angry with her whatsoever.

"About Prince Zuko capturing the Earth Kingdom's general?" she watched him nod in reply once more. "It doesn't seem that would be something he would do though...unless he thinks you will come and rescue the Earthbender...?"

Aang shrugged his shoulders, "I don't even know the general..." He lowered his head for a second and stared at his leather shoes, "Zuko does even care for the war right now. All he wants is me..."

Eavesdropping on their conversation, Sokka sat down behind his sister and poked his head in-between Katara and Aang. "Maybe Zuko is using the Earthbender to help track you down," he said in a thoughtful voice before he ripped a piece of bread off with his teeth. Sokka then handed the rest of the bread to Momo, the flying lemur, who was sitting on his shoulders.

"An Earthbender would _never _help the son of the Fire Lord in capturing the only person who can save their people now!" Katara slapped her brother on the back of the head. "It's insane! It's-" her brown eyes went wide with fear when she spotted something coming in their direction. "AANG!" she jumped to her feet and ran to the end of Appa's back with her leather pouch of water in her hands.

While the three of them were busily chatting away, three gigantic fireballs were soaring towards the sides and the behind of the flying bison. Katara was not quick enough to stop the first fireball from striking Appa's hind right leg, but she managed to freeze the next incoming fireball.

Crying out in pain, the flying bison began to dive down towards the ocean water to put out the fire that was currently burning its hind leg. "No Appa! Not the ocean!" Aang pulled on Appa's horns to steer him away from the ocean, "Back into the Earth Kingdom Appa! There are waterfalls there!" Once he had convinced Appa to fly back towards land, Aang ran back with Katara and Sokka to stop the rest of the incoming fireballs. "Where are they coming from?" the Avatar frantically looked down to see what was attacking them but there were too many clouds in the way.

"I don't know but here come three more!" Sokka pointed at the balls of fire.

Katara used a water whip to doze the growing fire on Appa's leg; she could see that the flying bison had already been burned badly. "I don't have enough water to stop all of those fireballs and heal Appa's leg-" she nervously glanced over at the Avatar.

Grabbing his faithful gliding stick, Aang used his airbending skills to blow the fireballs off in different directions. "I'll take care of the fireballs, just help Appa land!" the Avatar could already see three more fireballs swiftly moving towards them through the translucent clouds. As he blew the fireballs away from Appa, the clouds finally parted to reveal a long metal ship following them at full speed. _Zuko_...

"Look-there is waterfall over there!" Sokka ecstatically poked his sister several times in the shoulder to make sure that she would pay attention to him.

"I see it Sokka! Stop poking me in the damn shoulder will ya!" Katara barked at him as she steered Appa towards the waterfall which was only two miles from the coast.

"It looks like they are landing only a few miles inland," Uncle Iroh scratched his bearded chin as he kept his bright eyes locked on the flying bison.

Zuko grinned, "Perfect. I will_ finally_ be able to _catch_ the Avatar," the Fire Prince cracked his knuckles in anticipation.

"I'm not letting you go on your own Prince Zuko," muttered a voice from behind Iroh. "You can't take on the Avatar _and_ his friends all by yourself..."

_You are not my damn mother Xhela_, Zuko wanted to yell at her before he turned around to glare at her. His hardened dark eyes grew soft for a split second when he saw her broken smile; he could tell that she was worried about him.

"I can take care of the Avatar's friends while you go and capture the Avatar in a fair fight..." the Earthbender General suggested in a soft voice. "Besides...I know which waterfall they are heading to," she added slyly.

Momentarily looking at his uncle for help, Zuko spotted a twinkle in his uncle's eyes-like he had already approved Xhela's plan. Biting his lip as he thought long and hard about the consequences of having the general tagging along with him, he finally decided that she could be of some use to him this time around. "Alright," he sighed loudly, "you can come along."

Steam was slowly rising in the air from Appa's burned leg as the flying bison carefully dipped its leg into the waterfall. It let out a long growl of relief once it had settled into the cold pool of clear water. "Good boy," Aang gingerly patted his old friend on the top of his furry head, "Rest for a while."

"I knew it was too good to be true," Sokka grumbled under his breath as he kicked a stone across the dirt. "The minute we thought we were done with being bothered by Zuko-he shows up and nearly burns us out of the sky!"

"How did he even find us in the first place?" Katara bended water over Appa's singed leg, healing the wound using her special ability.

Aang stood in front of his friends with his gliding stick in his nimble hands; he was ready for Zuko to attack them this time. "I don't know...but he will probably find us again..." he narrowed his eyes towards the dark shadows in the tall forest trees and shrubs which surrounded the waterfall. _He could be anywhere_...

Crouching down in the thorny bushes next to the Earthbender, Prince Zuko waited with her for the exact moment to attack. He had some trouble holding himself back; Zuko was so close to the Avatar now-he could see Aang sweating. _This is it-the moment I've been waiting for_! _I have the Avatar right where I want him_! The Firebender's hands twitched as he impatiently waited for Aang to let his guard down just for only a second. He froze when he felt something soft touch his hand, it was Xhela's hand.

"_Don't worry_," she whispered to him with the same broken smile on her sweet face, "_Just a few more seconds and he is all yours_."

Forcing himself not to look into her eyes like he always stupidly does, Zuko curtly nodded in reply and kept his attention focused on the Avatar. When she moved her hand away from his, he felt a pain in his heart-like she had left a poisonous void deep inside of him when she wasn't near. He did not have much time to think about it though, for the Avatar had finally lowered his gliding stick to help Katara bend more water over Appa's leg. "_Let's go_," he hissed to Xhela.

Seconds after leaping out from his hiding spot, the Fire Prince immediately shot several scorching flames towards Aang. This time Zuko had the advantage over the Avatar and his friends. "Did you miss me?" he sneered at Aang as he kicked up flames into the air to blind him for a moment.

Quickly twirling his gliding stick, Aang blew away most of the burning flames away from his flying bison's furry side. "You came alone this time?" the young Airbender was befuddled by this; usually Zuko would bring in several reinforcements to keep his friends busy.

"That was a mistake," Sokka growled as he reached for his blue boomerang in his waist pocket. "Are you getting _that _desperate to capture us?" he taunted in his characteristic egotistical tone of voice. Swiftly throwing his boomerang towards Zuko's scarred face, his preferred weapon suddenly struck solid rock which had rose up from the ground without any warning in front of the Fire Prince. "When did he learn how to earthbend?" Sokka shrieked in fear.

"He didn't," Katara pointed to the armored female Earthbender who was standing behind Zuko.

Xhela laughed at the heroes' shocked expressions, "Two against three," she glanced over at Zuko with a smirk on her lips. "We have them out numbered now, don't you think Prince Zuko?" In a solid, forceful movement, the Earthbender General sent a line of spiked rocks towards the two siblings to separate them from Aang and Zuko. "You two can come and play with me," she growled as she sent another line of spiked rocks directly at them.

Slipping out his old-fashioned blade, the warrior from the Water Tribe ran at Xhela yelling at the top of his lungs. Swiftly, Sokka started to swipe his blade at her in every direction to keep her attention on him while his sister attacked her from behind.

The Earthbender had expected this all along. Smoothly dodging his blade like she was dancing with him, she ducked down when she could hear the waterbending sister sending a water whip her direction. As Katara's water whip accidentally struck Sokka in the face, Xhela kicked the warrior off his feet to deal with the Waterbender for a second.

Katara was more than ready for the Earthbender this time though, she sent a powerful wave of water at Xhela to knock her down on her back. "Are you sure you want to play with us?" she mocked a bit too early.

Pushing herself back to her feet in a matter of seconds, Xhela grabbed a handful of sand and threw it into Katara's face to temporarily blind her. "Don't get so cocky yet Waterbender," she snarled as she heard Sokka running towards her again. Standing completely still, she waited for Sokka to make a swipe at her before she attacked him.

Sokka's blade barely missed Xhela's right ear as she bent down to dodge his sloppy and overly-loud attack. Elbowing the warrior dead center in the chest, which knocked the wind right out of Sokka, Xhela then flipped around to kick him hard in the face. He fell face first into the dirt unconscious.

While Xhela was exhausting Katara out, Zuko was busily trying to find Aang's weakness so he could finally gain his honor back. "You should give up Avatar," he growled as he sent a burst of flames to block the water that Aang was splashing at him, "The Earthbenders are even beginning to turn on you!"

A few minutes later, Xhela was placing a blanket of solid rock over the two Water Tribe siblings to keep them from interrupting Zuko from capturing the Avatar. Brushing the dust off her hands, the Earthbender turned her attention to her savior and the Airbender. She could tell that Zuko needed a little help, so she decided to give Aang a little "lift."

Growing right between Aang's feet were sharp stone spikes which made him fall backwards so the spikes wouldn't pierce his nimble feet. As he was leaping back to his feet, Xhela pelted him with a dozen pebbles to keep him still long enough for Zuko to make the final blow.

Once Aang was down on his back, Zuko knocked the Avatar's gliding stick and main weapon out of his hands with a triumphant expression on his scarred face. "Looks like this is the end of the line for you Avatar," the Fire Prince glanced over at Xhela to see the same broken smile on her lips. As he was ready to knock the Airbender unconscious, he spotted Xhela suddenly falling forward out of the corner of his eyes. "Xhela!" Zuko tore his eyes away from Aang to see that there was a red arrow sticking out of Xhela's back. _She's been watching my back this entire time and I never watched hers_!

Using this to his advantage, the Avatar conjured a ball of wind and threw it at Zuko; the Fire Prince flew back and slammed into a tree unconscious. Aang slid across the dirt to get his gliding stick just as he caught sight of a volley of arrows soaring high in the air down upon him. He rushed over to help protect the Earthbender from the arrows as she was trying to pull the arrow out of her back. Spinning his stick around in a circle as quickly as he could, he used the wind to push the volley of arrows back into the dense trees where they had come from.

_Fire Nation archers_... the Avatar turned his head to see how the Earthbender General was, _Where are they hiding_? What Aang wasn't planning on was having the Earthbender still fighting him-like the volley of arrows had never happened. Performing a back-hand spring, the Avatar moved out of the way of Xhela's powerful kicks.

"I don't ever need your help!" she snarled at Aang, "Do you hear me! My people haven't had your help for one hundred years-and we certainly can't use it now!" Breaking the wooden arrow in her tightened fists she went after the Avatar with everything she had left; she would capture the Avatar for Zuko if it was the last thing she did for him.

Hiding up in the trees, the tattooed Firebender bounty hunter signaled to her archers to shoot another volley of arrows at her prey. "Try not to hurt the Avatar," June hissed between her teeth.

Aang and Xhela quickly caught sight of the second volley of arrows and they ceased fighting to protect themselves. The Avatar blew the arrows away from him while Xhela created a protective cave of rock and dirt around her to stop the arrows from piercing her body again. Breaking out of her dirt cave, the Earthbender took Aang by surprise and she managed to kick his stick right out of his tiny hands.

"You men are useless!" the bounty hunter scowled at the Fire Nation's top archers, "Never leave a woman's job to a man," she muttered sourly under her breath. "Just stand by," June snapped to the archers as she jumped down from her hiding place up in the trees. _I'll take care of this myself_...

"We don't need this anymore, now do we?" Xhela covered his stick up with rocks and dirt so he could not retrieve his weapon a second time. "Now surrender before I actually hurt you," she growled in a dark tone as she took a step towards him. Her ears twitched when she heard something hissing through the air; it was another arrow. Rising up a mound of dirt just in time, the tip of the arrow struck the mud and stopped just centimeters from Xhela's unprotected throat.

Narrowing her eyes, Xhela stared curiously at the tattooed female Firebender as she threw her bow down on the ground. _My brother has spoken of a tattooed bounty hunter from the Fire Nation before_..._is this her_? "The Avatar is _mine_," she kept her honey-colored eyes locked on the new competition.

June laughed at the Earthbender's comment, "The Avatar is not the reason I am here..._but_...he is a bonus for Zhao." The bounty hunter bowed before Xhela, "I have heard of your skills from numerous warriors in the war. Your name is almost _legend_ in the Earth Kingdom, am I correct?"

While the two girls were trading insults back and forth, Aang silently crawled along the ground and slowly inched his way towards Sokka and Katara. If he could free them, then he would have a chance against the two benders who were so determined to capture him.

Hearing the hint of mockery in the bounty hunter's voice, Xhela bit her lip to keep her raging anger in check. "Names mean nothing to me..."

"Oh," the bounty hunter gave Xhela a sly smile, "My name is June, by the way. I just wanted you to know it before I cut your head off and send it back to Zhao."


	8. Understanding the Hidden Meanings

Xhela flinched in her sleep when she felt something flick her in the middle of the forehead; she was slowly drifting back into reality. Cracking one eye open, the Earthbender found herself face-to-face with a big-eyed, flying lemur. "Go away," she snapped at the furry creature when it flicked her in the forehead again.

For a split second it seemed that Xhela had won when the lemur started to turn away, but then the white creature flipped back around and flicked her in the nose. "Why you little-" Xhela tried to reach out and grab the creature but she soon came to find out that her hands were bound. "What the-" she glanced down at her feet to see that her ankles and knees were bound together also. The lemur crawled up Xhela's bounded legs and sat on one of her knees so he could continue flicking the Earthbender in the forehead.

"_Why are you helping the Fire Nation_?" yelled a voice.

Glancing up, Xhela spotted the Airbender standing several feet before her with his hands smugly folded across his chest. "You'll have to re-word your question if you want a truthful answer from me..." _I'm not helping the Fire Nation_..._just only one person from the Fire Nation_.

Aang narrowed his eyes at the Earthbender, "_Why are you helping Prince Zuko_?"

"Yeah, why are you helping the enemy, huh?" Sokka chimed in an over-confident voice. The warrior's nose was bright red and two pieces of cloth were wadded up in his nostrils; Xhela had broken his nose when she had kicked him in the face.

"_He_ _is_ _not_ _my_ _enemy_," Xhela snarled when the flying lemur flicked her in the forehead again. "I'll turn you into a purse if you keep doing that!" she was pleased to see Momo's complexion turn pale when she had threatened to skin him. If she had not been bound, she would have been dancing when the lemur finally left her alone and went to sit on Aang's shoulder.

Patting Momo on the head for a moment, Aang tried to careful word his questions so he would get the responses he needed. "Where is the bounty hunter?"

"Hmmm..." Xhela bit down on her lip as she tried to remember, "I threw her into a river I think..."

"THEN WHY ARE YOU HELPING ZUKO?" Aang was finally losing his patience with her.

"BECAUSE HE SAVED MY LIFE!" Xhella yelled back at the Avatar to show that she did not appreciate being yelled at.

When Aang and Sokka were about to retaliate and yell more back at her, Katara came into the entrance of the waterfall cave with a basket of fruits in her arms. She had heard the last few minutes of the conversation from outside, "Why don't you boys go catch some fish while I chat with the Earthbender, huh?" She secretly winked to Aang when he was ready to protest about leaving Katara alone with the enemy.

"Be careful Katara," Aang muttered softly to her before he and Sokka left the cave with Momo still hanging on the Avatar's shoulder.

Placing the basket of fruit between herself and the Earthbender, Katara stood in front of Xhela with her hands on her hips. It appeared as if the Waterbender was passing her judgement on Xhela. Once she was done sizing Xhela up, Katara's stiff pose loosened. "I'll make a deal with you, if you answer my questions, I'll unbound your hands and let you eat something... You look like you're hungry," she added in a soft voice.

Xhela did feel extremely weak and like she had not eaten anything in days, "How long have I been in your custody?" Times and places were still a blur to her.

"Three days," Katara knelt down on the ground to be at the same eye-level as Xhela. "How did Zuko save your life?" the Waterbender asked Xhela in a simple voice.

The memory of her first falling in Zuko's open arms was almost like a dream now; she still couldn't believe that Zuko had taken pity on her back then. Her honey-colored eyes softened for a second when she remembered the first time he had said her name like he had actually cared for her.

Katara was carefully watching the expression on Xhela's face, especially when she spotted tears forming in the corners of the Earthbender's eyes. The Waterbender finally understood everything; she knew it would have taken the guys forever to figure it out. "Here," she slipped out one of her brother's blades and cut the bounds on Xhela's hands. Katara smiled sweetly at the heartbroken Earthbender, "Do you like mangos?"

* * *

"So you finally decided to come outside," Uncle Iroh commented loudly as he joined his headstrong nephew in watching the ocean waves and the dancing seagulls. He noticed that Zuko was holding a cracked walking stick in his hands, "Where did you get the stick? I looks very familiar..."

Zuko kept his gazed fixed on the scenic view, "It belongs to the Avatar," he whispered in an emotionless voice.

Sighing loudly, the elder Firebender gave his nephew a saddened expression, "I'm going to explain something to you Zuko...but only once. I want you to pay attention to every word that comes out of my mouth, understand?"

"Yes, Uncle," the Fire Prince bowed his head as he waited to hear an ancient proverb or another wise saying from his father-figure.

"Revenge does not last for very long, it is not a powerful enough emotion to live on forever, Prince Zuko. I know how deeply you wish to return home and see your father...I miss home too," he placed his hand on his nephew's shoulder. "But there is one emotion that will stand the sands of time..._love_. Revenge will come and go but love will only pass you by _once_..." Uncle Iroh watched Zuko lower his head slightly. "To put it simply Prince Zuko-a girl like Xhela does not come around every thirty years."

Stiffening up for a few minutes, Zuko thought about what his Uncle was telling him. He then thought about Xhela, all she had done for him these past few weeks. Then he thought about seeing her honey-colored eyes for the first time; how much joy it had brought him to know that he had saved someone's life...

Releasing his grip on the Avatar's gliding stick, the Fire Prince watched as it fell and slowly disappeared into the glistening waves. Zuko looked over to see that Iroh was beaming with happiness, "I promise I will get her back..."

* * *

"Do you want anymore fish Katara?" Aang offered in a kind voice to the Waterbender.

"No thank-you Aang," she blushed slightly when the Avatar had leaned over to hand her more food and their shoulders touched, "I'm fine."

Sokka jumped at the chance to eat his sister's fish, "I'll take it Aang!"

"Do you ever stop eating?" Xhela narrowed her eyes at Sokka from across the fire, "It's amazing that you don't weigh over nine-hundred pounds..."

"_Shut-up_! You're _still_ our prisoner, remember?" the warrior grumbled as he ripped a piece of bread off with his teeth.

"And you're _still_ an idiot-yes, I remember," Xhela sighed loudly and rolled her eyes about the entire thing.

Before a boisterous argument could pursue, Katara volunteered Sokka to go help Aang collect more firewood to keep the fire going for the rest of the night. She ignored her brother's sour expressions as he exited the cave with the Avatar. "You'll have to excuse my brother, he can be very rude sometimes..." the Waterbender explained quietly.

"He is very attentive when it comes to you," Xhela commented in a sly voice as she snapped a burnt twig from the fire to draw on the floor of the cave.

"Who? Sokka?" Katara did not understand by what Xhela was talking about.

"You know exactly what I mean," Xhela kept her eyes on the floor of the cave as she scribbled images down by her feet.

Katara nodded, "Aang has always been like that," she leaned over the fire see what the Earthbender was sketching. "Hey-what are you drawing? Those lines look familiar..." she was trying to jog her memory and figure out where she had seen those scribbles before.

"This symbol means water..." she pointed to three lines that appeared to be water ripples. "This symbol means earth," she drew a simple circle. "This means fire," she drew three lines that appeared to be rising from the ground into the air. "And this...means air," she drew one line that curled into a circle at one end. "It's from ancient text...my brother taught it to me," Xhela glanced up to see Katara's brown eyes widen with excitement. "Did I say something wrong?" she turned her head to the side in curiosity.

"You know how to read these symbols?" Katara was very interested in what the Earthbender was telling her now. She jumped to her feet when Xhela nodded curtly, "AANG!" Running outside the cave the Waterbender nearly ran into the Avatar and her brother, who had their arms full with wood to burn in the fire.

Sokka and Aang exchanged nervous expressions before Katara could explain what she had just discovered. "Do you remember those ancient ruins that we found a few days ago?" she waited for them to agree, "Remember all of the symbols carved into the stone pillars? _She _knows how to read them, _she _was just subconsciously drawing them!" She grumbled loudly when they stared blankly at her, "She can tell us what that image of the comet means Aang! She can help us read it!"

"So, what does it mean?" Katara leaned over Xhela's shoulder as if her continuous questioning would somehow allow the Earthbender to understand the symbols better. "Why are there dragons carved into the walls with their mouths open?"

The heroes where standing behind the general as she examined the ancient temple's wall depicting the coming comet.

"Give her some space Katara," Sokka pulled his sister back with a stern look in his eyes. He didn't want his sister to get too close to the enemy just yet.

Gingerly reaching out to touch the stone fangs of one of the dragons, Xhela could see the dragon's eyes suddenly begin to burn red. "They are locks," she finally decided out loud.

"_Locks_?" Katara exchanged nervous glances with Aang and Sokka, "There is nothing behind this wall though... Why would they have locks on a wall?"

Xhela looked over her shoulder at Katara, "There are locks on this wall to keep something from reaching this world..." She pointed to the stone dragon that she had touched, "This dragon has the Earth symbol carved into its eyes...that's why it glowed when I touched it. There is a dragon here for each element."

"Does it say what is behind the wall?" Aang knelt down next to Xhela to touch the dragon for the element of air. He felt warmth enter his body as the dragon's eyes glowed, _This place is very spiritual_.

"I have somewhat of an idea," she bit on her lip as she carefully read the symbols on the bottom of the wall, just above the dragons' heads. "It says something about the Avatar's destiny...and I believe it says that the wall is a doorway to the Spirit World-"

The warrior snorted, "Aang can already channel into the Spirit World whenever he wants... Why would he need a doorway into the Spirit World, huh?"

"_If you would let me finish_," Xhela snapped at Sokka in a bitter voice. "The doorway is not for the Avatar – it is for anyone who is pure of mind and spirit wishing to retrieve the life of a lost loved one..."

"You could bring someone back from the dead?" Katara's complexion had turned pale when she finally realized that she had heard Xhela correctly.

Xhela nodded, "But only if the person's life has been wrongfully taken and has died that very day you try to retrieve their soul... Otherwise, their soul will become a permanent member-" she stopped in mid-sentence when she heard a twig snap nearby. "_Someone is here_," the Earthbender hissed to Aang.

The odor of something burning suddenly filled Aang's nostrils; Firebenders were here. Before the Airbender could open his mouth to tell Sokka and Katara to make a run for it, nets shot out of the trees and trapped the siblings. "Katara!" Aang leapt to his feet to help her break free but something knocked him down to the ground from behind.

"You're not going anywhere _little boy_," hissed the Firebender as he pressed the heel of his boot deeper into Aang's back.

Cutting through the nets with his blade, Sokka broke out of his trap to find himself surrounded by three Firebenders. "Who's first?" he growled as he slipped his trusty boomerang out of his seal leather belt. As Sokka charged towards the closest Firebender, Xhela quickly took care of the other two Firebenders who were going to kill Sokka from behind. After he took out the enemy, Sokka glanced around to find that the other two Firebenders were already down. "I don't need your help!" he snarled at Xhela.

"You're welcome," the Earthbender muttered under her breath as she went to help free Katara. Just as she quickly bent down to cut a hole in the Waterbender's net, she felt something sharp press against the back of her neck. Glancing over her shoulder, Xhela caught a glimpse of the tattooed bounty hunter before she was knocked unconscious.

"AANG!" Katara cried at the top of her lungs when she watched Xhela hit the ground. "AANG HELP!" she was helpless without water. The Waterbender tried to move as far away as possible from the bounty hunter's brass knuckles, "AANG! PLEA-" Katara's body sunk to the ground.

_KATARA_! Pushing up on the ground with all of his strength, the Avatar managed to throw the Firebender who was standing on top of him off balance. In a matter of seconds, Aang took him out by sending the Firebender head-first into one of the ancient stone pillars. Before he could reach Katara, he was blocked by several more Firebenders as the bounty hunter and a few of her men escaped with Katara and Xhela. _Katara_...


	9. A Thousand To One Chance

"What do you think of your beloved kingdom now, Earthbender?" hissed the bounty hunter when she caught Xhela peering out of the barred window. June was busily sharpening her knife by striking it against a shiny black stone. Xhela and Katara were in one of the guest rooms inside the palace that had been turned into a prison cell. They were to remain locked inside with the bounty hunter until Zhao showed up to deal with them personally.

Xhela did not respond to June's question; she sighed loudly about the state of precious kingdom was now in. The beautiful green tiled roofs were now painted the color of blood and the mud-colored walls had been charred to a soulless hue of black. Before the city had been taken over by the Fire Nation, it had always smelled of her favorite flower, the white goddess. Now...all she could smell was the scent of death and smoke. The precious stone statues of past kings and famous Earthbenders that once lined the entrance hall of the kingdom had been melted away. All of the artwork in the kingdom had been burned and weapons and tapestries of the Fire Nation now hung in their place. _This is no longer my home_... the general knew that she would never be able to save her people from the Fire Nation's destruction.

It had been two days since the two girls had been captured by the bounty hunter; they had lost hope of having Aang and Sokka rescuing them. Xhela glanced over at Katara to see that the Waterbender was also quite depressed. The general glanced back over at the metal bars on the window...one of them was broken. "_Katara_-" Xhela whispered. Once Xhela had grabbed Katara's attention, she mouthed the words "I have a plan" to the Waterbender.

"I'm a bit insulted, bounty hunter," Xhela growled as she narrowed her eyes at June.

June lifted her head slightly, "And why would you think that, General Xhela?"

"Because I wanted to kill more than _one_ Firebender before I broke out of this room," Xhela beamed when she saw a flicker of hatred in June's black eyes.

Katara widened her eyes at Xhela, "_What are you doing_! _She's going to kill you_!" she hissed in a low voice so June would not hear.

"Are you trying to mock me, _Earthbender_?" June sat up straight in her seat with a dark look on her face. "Because if you are...Zhao gave me permission to cut your head off!"

Laughing, Xhela gave the bounty hunter a sly expression, "I bet you can't even cut your way out of a box..." _Come on_..._get off your ass and slam me against the window_..._Come on_!

"That's it!" June threw her sharpening stone down on the floor and she quickly got to her feet. "Now you've angered me for the last time Earthbender!" The bounty hunter stormed over to where Xhela was kneeling and bent down to grab her by the throat, "I'll cut your tongue out first!"

Raising the Earthbender off the ground, the bounty hunter pressed the edge of her knife against Xhela's exposed throat. Xhela was too far away from the broken metal bar to cut the bounds on her wrists; it had been a worthy try though.

"I wonder what _Prince Zuko_ will do when he hears of your death and that _I _have caught the Avatar?" June hissed.

"Please don't do it!" Katara begged at the top of her lungs, "She didn't mean to insult you! Please-"

Suddenly, there was a booming knock at the door. Grumbling under her breath, June dropped Xhela back on the floor to see who was at the door. "_I told you not to disturb me unless Zhao is here_!" the bounty hunter snarled as she started to unlock the door.

While June was fiddling with keys, Xhela hastily jumped to her feet so she could cut her bounds. "_Almost there_," Xhela hissed to Katara, who was keeping an eye on June to make sure that the Earthbender would not be caught.

Both Katara and Xhela froze when the door was abruptly kicked down and June flailed backwards from the doorway so she wouldn't be flattened. "What in the hell-" the bounty hunter rubbed the back of her head as she looked up to see who had knocked her down on the floor.

An ominous figure dressed in black stood in the broken doorway with two long, glistening swords in their hands. The figure's face was hidden by a brightly painted warrior's mask which was probably over centuries old. At first, the masked warrior stood motionless with their eyes locked on the bounty hunter; as if the warrior was sizing up June.

"_Who are you_?" the bounty hunter snarled as the masked warrior cautiously moved towards her. June caught sight of the warrior's gaze momentarily meeting with Katara and Xhela, "Oh...so you're here for them, are you?" Slipping out another knife from her belt, the bounty hunter was ready to fight the masked warrior. "Well – you can't have them!" June yelled as she ran at the silent intruder to make sure they would not take one more step closer to her prisoners.

"Hurry-hurry-hurry!" Katara hissed as she watched the masked warrior and the bounty hunter become locked in combat.

Xhela was furiously trying to cut through the rope on Katara's wrists with the broken metal bar, "_This isn't as easy as it looks-okay_!" Once she had managed to break the rope, the Earthbender watched the masked warrior battle the bounty hunter for a few seconds while Katara used the metal bar on the rope around her ankles. _I've seen that battle pattern before_...Xhela's honey colored eyes widened when she realized who it was. "Zuko…"

Hearing Xhela say his name, the fire prince looked away from the bounty hunter and locked his eyes on her broken smile for a split second.

Using this opportunity, June stabbed the masked warrior in the back with one of her tiny knives when he wasn't paying attention. Then putting her favorite weapon to use – her brass knuckles – the bounty hunter punched the warrior in the stomach to make him fall to his knees. "Now to see who you really are..." June hissed in a pleased voice as she went to knock the metal mask right off the warrior's face.

June's brass knuckles made contact with a dinner plate that Xhela had grabbed to block the blow from reaching Zuko. "Why you piece of shit! I should have killed you when I had the chance!" the bounty hunter took a swing at Xhela but the Earthbender was just barely out of her reach.

"Then why don't you come and get me bounty hunter?" Xhela carefully began to walk backwards to the only exit, hoping that June would take the bait and leave Zuko alone. "You don't want your most expensive prey to get away from you, now do you?" she taunted just as she reached the doorway.

Glancing back at the wounded masked warrior and the Waterbender, June knew that Zhao would not pay for their heads. He explicitly told her to find and kill General Xhela, he didn't care about the other two – he just wanted to have his revenge. The bounty hunter narrowed her black eyes at Xhela, "I still have to cut your tongue out!"

Xhela bolted out of the room with the tattooed Firebender hot on her trail. The Earthbender had one advantage she knew the palace like the back of her hand, unlike June.

"Xhela!" Katara started to head towards the exit but she was stopped by the masked warrior. "Are you alright?" she asked as she knelt down next to him, "Do you need help?"

The masked warrior looked at the Waterbender for a moment, wondering if he should speak or not. "Get out of here while you still can..." he snarled at Katara in a dark voice but he knew that she would still recognize his voice.

He was shocked to find Katara smiling at him, "She said you would come save her..."

"Excuse me – pardon me!" Xhela yelled as she ran across the long, elegant dinner table while the Firebender governor and his family were eating their dinner. She scooped up a silver dinning plate to use as a shield when the tattooed bounty hunter leapt up on the dining table.

"COME BACK HERE!" June took a swipe at Xhela with her knife but it was blocked by the silver dinner plate. Growling in frustration, the bounty hunter kicked at Xhela's shield to bend it right in half.

Taking one look at her ruined shield, the Earthbender knew it was time to run. "Oh shit," Xhela jumped down from the dinner table and sprinted into the next room.

Once the commotion was all over with at the dinner table, the governor's wife released a long sigh of relief. She received a cold look from her husband, "Well, at least she was polite about it..."

_All I have to do is go through these doors and I'm home free_! Xhela kept telling herself as she bolted through the courtyard. Skidding to an abrupt halt, the Earthbender stood just a few feet away from the gigantic wooden doors which was the only thing standing in her way of being free. "Something is not right..." Xhela took a step back from the doors, "Where are the rest of the guards?" She nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard someone clapping off to the right side of her.

"Very good," Zhao smugly folded his powerful arms across his chest. "Not many break out of this prison these days..." he smirked at Xhela. "You look a bit surprised to see me...did you think I would not come to kill you?" The Firebender was close enough to see the beads of sweat rolling down her face.

"I thought you would have come sooner Zhao," Xhela cracked her knuckles as she kicked her shoes off. The cool dirt underneath her bare feet made her feel like she was finally back home, watching the sunset with her brother. "I still need to have _my_ _revenge_ for my brother's death," she growled.

Zhao laughed curtly in reply, "You still need to _join _your brother!" In an instant, Admiral Zhao kicked a fireball right at Xhela; he thought this would be enough to bring her down.

Moving her hands together, a stone wall blocked the fireball from reaching her. "I guess they make anyone admiral these days..." the Earthbender called as she made her stone wall crumble away. "Now it's my turn!" Xhela gracefully lifted a boulder twice the size of her body from the ground and kicked it at Admiral Zhao. While he was trying to move out of the boulder's way, Xhela slid across the ground and knocked the Firebender off his feet. The only way she could win is if she could make him lose his footing.

Anticipating this from her, Zhao quickly pushed himself back to his feet with his hands burning madly. Zhao was ten times stronger than Xhela but he was also two times older than her – she had plenty more energy to burn than him. He would have to tire her out in order to win. He carefully chose his next few attacks to wear the Earthbender out.

"What's wrong Zhao? Are you getting tired?" Xhela snickered as she dodged his fiery punches. Her honey-colored eyes widened when she could no longer feel dirt underneath her feet, all she could feel was freezing cold, lifeless metal.

Zhao smirked, "No more dirt, oh-what will you do?" he mocked just before he prepared to use his strongest attack on her. The admiral sent three fireballs right at her, one heading straight for her and the other two were curving around to her making it nearly impossible for her to dodge the attack. He laughed when saw her frightened face just before the flames swallowed her up, "Good riddance," Zhao brushed the dirt from his strong hands.

"I'm not done with you just yet!" Xhela had fallen back-first to the ground in order to dodge his very powerful attack. She had just barely dodged his attack; her right shoulder was burned badly but other than that – she was still capable of fighting.

Leaping back to her feet, the Earthbender did a hand spring and a cartwheel across the metal floor as she tried to reach solid ground once more. The second her feet touched the ground she sent a line of stone spikes to where Zhao was standing. While he was getting out of the way, Xhela dipped her arms down to ground and bended the dirt around her hands; she now had stone knuckles. Running right at him, Xhela used all of her might as she punched the Firebender in the jaw. Adding stones to her hands had done the desired effect Xhela wanted, she had made him bleed.

Spitting his blood on the dirt, Zhao narrowed his determined eyes at his enemy. "Now after I kill you –I'll kill your beloved fire prince after scaring the rest of his face!" Zhao could no longer contain his firebending skills, he was going to burn the whole world down if it meant he would finally kill her.

Quickly taking up a defensive position, Xhela created several stone walls to block the fireballs but they were not enough. Ducking down to avoid being burned to death, she was knocked face-first into the dirt by Zhao kicking her down. With the wind knocked out of her, the Earthbender could do nothing but watch the stars float above her head.

Zhao turned her over to have her watch him kill her, "A worthy try General Xhela...but not good enough...Tell your brother hello for me, will you?" As he raised his right hand to send one fireball that would finish her off, Xhela swiftly raised her foot and kicked him in his private area.

While he yelled out in pain, Xhela kicked a boulder right at him. Panting loudly, she pressed her foot on his throat with a stone spike raised in her hands once he was down on the ground. For a moment she could see the panic in the Firebender's eyes when he thought that she was going to drive the spike through his heart. "I'm not like you..." Xhela lowered her spike and removed her foot from his throat, "I'll never be a cold-blooded killer..." Turning her back on Zhao, Xhela started to move towards the gigantic doors to leave the palace for good.

"Compassion will get you nowhere!" Zhao snarled as he slowly brought himself to his feet. When she did not look back at him, the admiral's fists began to furiously burn, "You should have killed me!" Zhao was about to kick a fireball right at her back when he caught something out of the corner of his eye.

The Avatar sent a strong gust of wind at Zhao which sent him flying backwards into a stone wall. Aang finally relaxed when he watched the Firebender's head dip down to signify that Zhao was now unconscious. "He needed that," the Airbender jumped down from one of the courtyard's stone walls with a smile on his young face.

"You're late," Xhela frowned when she heard a horn being blown off in the distance. _Zuko_...she looked back at the palace to see that it was actually on fire. "Did Katara find you?" the Earthbender could sense the ease in the Avatar's smooth movements.

"Yes," Aang scratched the back of his head, "She's with Sokka and Appa..." There seemed to be something on Aang's mind, "Are you going to come with us Xhela?" he finally asked in a soft voice.

Glancing down at her bare feet, Xhela shook her head in reply. "My destiny follows a different path...I hope you understand..." She stretched out her scared hand to him, "Thank you Aang. I hope to see you battle again," the Earthbender warmly shook his hand in friendship. She waved goodbye to him as he leapt back over the stone wall, _He's stronger than I thought_...

"I suggest that we go home now..."

Xhela slightly turned her head to see the masked warrior sitting on the edge of a broken stone fountain. Her heart raced, "You're alright!" she rushed over to him to hug him but she stopped herself suddenly. "You saw the Avatar-" the mask nodded, "-then why didn't you capture him? He had his guard down! That could have been your only chance to get home!"

Pulling the brightly painted mask off his face, Zuko uncharacteristically smiled at Xhela. "I'll have another opportunity eventually, Xhela. Besides your life is worth more than my honor today."

The horn sounded off in the distance again, "We have to keep moving..." Getting to his feet, he started to brush by Xhela, who was flabbergasted beyond all reason. He gingerly took her scarred hand in his, "Come on...let's go home...I'm starving."


	10. Shopping Interruptions

"Something smells good," Uncle Iroh sniffed the air and rubbed his stomach as he sat in the boiler room next to his sleepy nephew. "What are you cooking General Xhela?" he could have sworn that he could smell pork.

"It's a surprise," Xhela beamed while she continued to chop herbs and spices into tiny slices.

Zuko yawned loudly; he had stayed up all night making sure that Admiral Zhao and his men would try to follow them or pull a sneak attack. "Wh-where is everyone Uncle?" the Fire Prince could barely keep his eyes open.

"They wanted to look through the town," the elder Firebender's eyes brightened when Xhela carried over two bowls of steaming white rice to them. "This looks delicious," he was about to pick up his chopsticks when Xhela went back to grab the rest of the food. "There's _more_?" Iroh was absolutely delighted.

"Pot stickers for my favorite Firebenders," the Earthbender lost the smile on her face when Zuko started to snore. Leaning forward, Xhela kissed Zuko on the cheek to wake him up; he instantly opened his eyes. Her honey-colored eyes met with his, "Eat some breakfast Prince Zuko..."

With his cheeks burning red, Zuko snatched his chopsticks and stuffed a pot sticker into his mouth to hide his embarrassment. He stomped on his Uncle's foot when he could hear the elder Firebender snickering about Zuko's blushing.

"We are running low on food," Xhela whispered to herself as she glanced at the remaining sack of rice sitting in the corner of the boiler room. "I should probably go buy some more in the town while we are here..."

"Good idea," Uncle Iroh said between mouthfuls, "Prince Zuko will go with you...he needs some fresh air." He grinned to his frowning nephew, "Won't you Prince Zuko?"

Muttering under his breath, Zuko stuffed another pot sticker in his mouth so he wouldn't yell at his Uncle about how tired he was and how much he hated shopping. _I guess I can sleep when we get back_, he sourly thought to himself as he followed Xhela out of the boiler room.

* * *

"It was sooo romantic," Katara said as she twirled around on one foot in front of Aang and Sokka. "He rescued Xhela from that bounty hunter before she was killed," the Waterbender sighed pathetically, "It was beautiful."

Sokka stuck his tongue out like he was going to be sick to his stomach, "Zuko...being a hero? That's-that's just disgusting to think about..."

Hearing Katara's giddy laughter made Aang wonder what he was doing wrong. _I've saved her a hundred times before and she doesn't think it's romantic_! Feeling a bit jealous, the Airbender pouted a little as he continued to watch her dance around with an invisible person. "He still wants to capture me Katara, remember?" Aang grew red in the face when she ignored him and continued dancing and humming happily to herself.

"Can we go get something to eat?" Sokka could hear his own stomach growling. "I think there is a town nearby...maybe we could get a decent meal this time around?" he asked in a very hopeful voice.

Upon hearing his favorite words, Momo leapt off Appa's back and glided down to Sokka's feet. The flying lemur tugged on Sokka's pants hoping that the warrior would share the food that he was talking about. Momo started to cry when Sokka snapped at him that there wasn't any food.

As if he was off in his own world, Aang ignored Sokka's first polite request and kept frowning at the sight of Katara dancing.

Finally picking up a pebble, Sokka chucked it at the side of Aang's bald head, "AANG!"

Completely off guard, the Airbender prepared to fight whoever was challenging him the second the pebble made contact. Aang relaxed when he saw Sokka and Momo standing before him with dark looks on their faces, "Alright, let's go eat then..."

* * *

"Does your Uncle prefer melon or mangos?" Xhela asked Zuko in a sweet voice as she followed him through the town's market.

Rolling his eyes, Zuko could really care less what his Uncle ate. "He prefers anything sweet or fattening," he grumbled sourly. The Fire Prince glanced around the fruit stand to see wanted posters of the Avatar posted everywhere; he was relieved to see that Xhela was wanted yet.

"Here you go pretty lady," the fruit seller dropped the three melons and mangos into her open red leather bag. "Have a good day," he did not happen to see the burns on Xhela's hands.

Xhela glanced over her shoulder to see Zuko examining the swords across from the fruit stand, _Boys will always be boys_. "Like any of them?" she whispered as he balanced the tip of a sword on the edge of his index finger.

"Which one do you think is better?" the Firebender handed her the sword he was just balancing and then another one that was a bit heavier.

Taking a few swipes in the air, the Earthbender bit her bottom lip as she tried to make up her mind on the two swords. "This one," Xhela handed him the heavier sword, "It cuts through the air easier and will cause double the damage."

"I'm impressed," Zuko would have chosen the same sword. "I'll take this one," he barked at the swordsman and threw a bag of coins at him. "Wrap it while you're at it!"

"You don't need any more swords though-" she started to say but she then noticed a smirk on Zuko's scarred face.

Once the sword was wrapped in leather, Zuko made the swordsman give the weapon to Xhela. "Yes, but _you_ do..." he placed his arm around her shoulders and grinned at her as she took the sword. "Just never say that I given you anything," the Fire Prince coughed under his breath so only Xhela could hear him.

He kept his arm on her shoulders as he glanced around to see what the rest of the stands were selling. _Just what I was looking for_, Zuko thought to himself when he spotted a blacksmith. "But there is more to your gift... So, if you permit me to borrow your sword for a few minutes and run around the town to add the finishing touches-" they was a sly look in his eyes, "-I will meet you back at my ship."

"You are a prince. You can do whatever you please..." The Earthbender gave him a broken smile, "I know that you despise shopping...and that I love gifts," she laughed. "I will see you later, Prince Zuko."

Sighing depressingly, Xhela watched him disappear amongst the Firebenders and leave her with the enemies. "What else do I need to get?" she unpocketed her shopping list to find that she had forgotten about getting fish and chicken. Wandering over to the first stand that was selling what she needed, which was fish, she began pondering on what kind of fish the Firebenders would like to eat.

"How much is the flying fish?"

Xhela lifted her eyes from the shimmering scales of the fish to see a familiar face to the right of her. "_Idiot_," she hissed at him to grab his attention.

Turning beet red in the face, Sokka started to open his mouth to tell whoever had called him an idiot to go fall in a puddle. He immediately shut his trap when he spotted Prince Zuko's war helmet on Xhela's head, "_You_!" Instead of wearing his Water Tribe clothing, he had draped a black cape over himself. Thinking that this would add to his disguise, Sokka had rubbed black mud into his light brown hair.

"_What are you doing here_?" she hissed as she pulled him away from the fish stand to speak with him in private.

Sokka frowned, "I'm getting some food...?" he couldn't understand why she would be so angry about something like that.

"_Are you insane_?" Xhela slapped him across the face, "There are wanted posters of you and your sister all over this market!"

Rubbing his reddened cheek with a sour expression on his face, the warrior snorted at the Earthbender. "Where? I don't see-" he lost his voice when he finally spotted the wanted posters of him nailed to the side of the fish stand. "When did they make wanted pictures of me?"

Restraining herself from slapping him again, Xhela barked at him to pay attention to her. "Zhao is getting smarter. You need to get your sister and Aang out of here – before someone recognizes you through your pathetic disguise."

Meanwhile, Katara was buying a melon for Aang, since it was one of his favorite kinds of food. When she was trying to decide which ripe melon to buy, the fruit salesman just so happened to look across at the wanted posters nailed at the sword stand. The salesman's eyes gleamed when he saw the reward money at the bottom of the poster.

"Excuse me? How much is this?" the Waterbender was fishing out her money from her coin bag; she never noticed the evil look in the salesman's eyes.

"You don't want that melon," the fruit salesman gave Katara a funny look, "I have better ones in the back here. Come pick one, if you'd like..."

_Will she like this_? Aang scratched his chin as he carefully examined the earrings he was pondering about buying for Katara. _What if she doesn't like the gift_?

"Are you going to buy it, or what?" the jeweler grumbled when Aang continued to stand there frowning about nothing in particular.

"ONE OF THE SHIPS IS ON FIRE!" a woman screamed and frantically pointed to the dark smoke that was rising into the air from the harbor.

Aang swiftly tossed the earrings to the jeweler, "Not today, thanks!" Rushing past the Firebenders, who were watching the ship burn from several yards away, the Avatar skidded to a stop when he recognized the ship. _It's Zuko's ship_...

"UNCLE!" the Fire Prince brushed right by the Avatar without even realizing it and sprinted to his ship to see if his Uncle was safe. Just as he was about to board his burning ship, Zuko barely managed to dodge a fireball that had literally come out of nowhere. He dropped the sword he had engraved for Xhela on the dock.

"I'm afraid you can't take one step closer Zuko," snapped a voice from the railings, a few feet above Zuko's head.

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH MY UNCLE, ZHAO!" Zuko's fists began to burn.

Zhao smirked, "He's tied up in his room...probably _suffocating_ on the smoke as we speak..."

"Let him go! Your fight is not with him!" the Fire Prince dared to a step closer.

"You're right _little prince_," Admiral Zhao growled as he kicked flames at Zuko to make him take a few steps back. "My fight isn't with your _Uncle Iroh_," he started to walk off the ship, "My fight is with your _friend_ there..." Looking back, Zuko could see Xhela standing on the dock with a horrified expression on her face. "If you hand her over, I'll step aside and let you rescue your uncle. Simple enough..."

Narrowing his eyes, Zuko spat in Zhao's face, "You'll get nothing from me!"

"Aang!" the Earthbender recognized the Airbender instantly in the crowd of onlookers behind her. "Give me a lift!"

"So be it, I'll just kill you too!" Raising his fists to send a volley of fireballs at Zuko, the admiral stopped when something smacked him in the head. Flipping around, Zhao was surprised to find Xhela standing behind him on the ship already.

Xhela kicked another pebble at Zhao's head, "Miss me?"

Knowing that there was very little time left for his Uncle, Zuko took the opportunity that Xhela had provided him and sprinted onto the ship to rescue Iroh.

"There's no dirt to help you this time, _Earthbender_," Zhao chuckled at her, "A few pebbles won't stop me from killing you!" With his fists burning madly, the admiral took a swing at Xhela; who was completely defenseless.

Dropping down to the ground, she did the splits to avoid the powerful punches Zhao was packing this time. In a matter of seconds Xhela knocked Zhao on his behind with a swift kick in the shins. "I've beaten you once...I can do it again!"

While Xhela and Zuko were dealing with the problems on the ship, Aang and Sokka were dealing with the problems on the dock. Zhao had not come alone, he had his army with him this time around. "Sokka-get Katara and let's get out of here! There are too many! I'll hold them off for as long as I can," Aang yelled at his friend when they were fighting back-to-back. Once Zhao's army had shown up to take the Avatar down, the townspeople had retreated back to their homes in fear of being killed in the process.

Tightening his grip on her throat with a dark smile on his lips, Zhao took pleasure in watching Xhela gasp for air. "Are you going to beg for your life like your brother did?" he laughed when he could see her face turning blue.

"_No-_" she coughed just before she kneed him in the private area like she had done before. The second she hit the hot metal floor, Xhela began to slowly crawl away from Zhao taking in deep breaths. _I need that sword_... Finally getting to her feet, the Earthbender slid down the metal plank on the side of the ship and landed face-first on the dock.

Coming to his senses, Admiral Zhao quickly followed the general back down to the dock and grabbed her from behind. "You can't get away that easily!" he threw her across the dock as hard as he could.

Suffering from several broken ribs, Xhela tried to push herself back to her feet but she was unable to. Just when she had lost all hope, she spotted the sword that Zuko had bought for her lying on the ground only a few inches away from her hands.

Trembling as she got to her feet, Xhela moved her right foot over the tip of the sword's blade as she waited for Zhao. _Please let this work_..._please_...

"You don't have the strength or the guts to use that sword on me!" Zhao snorted in disbelief when he could tell that she was finally beaten. "You even said so yourself-you can't kill me!"

Quickly sidestepping into an attack that would deliver the final blow to the Earthbender, Zhao was caught off guard when Xhela stomped down on the ground to send the sword flying into her hands. Missing her with his first fiery punch, the admiral was elbowed in the stomach just before Xhela lodged the sword through his chest. The fire surrounding Admiral Zhao's powerful hands suddenly went out; he was dead.

Pulling her weapon out of the Firebender's chest, Xhela watched his body fall over. She couldn't bring herself to look at Zhao's lifeless eyes as she wiped his blood off her sword.

"APPA!" Aang cried out with relief when he saw his faithful pet flying bison land on the dock. Slamming his massive tail on the ground, a powerful gust of wind sent the remaining warriors of Zhao's army into the water. The Avatar patted Appa on the head, "Good boy!" He looked up to see only a sad Sokka and Momo sitting on Appa's back, "Where's Katara?"

Before Sokka could explain where his sister was, a loud explosion came from inside the ship where the boiler room was. "ZUKO!" Xhela screamed as she scrambled to her feet to board the sinking ship.

"No!" Aang went after Xhela and pulled her back just in time as another explosion went off. "You won't find them in time!" he told her as they watched the ship continue to sink into the ocean, "You wouldn't make it..."

"_Zuko_!" tears were rolling down her cheeks, _Please be alright_... "_ZUKO_!" Xhela cried at the top of her lungs when nothing was left of the ship. Tearing her eyes away from the crashing waves where the ship once had been, the Earthbender gave Aang a look of pure hatred. "_Why didn't you do anything to save them_?" When he gave her a flabbergasted look, Xhela pushed him off her. "_You're the Avatar_! _You could have done something_! _YOU COULD HAVE SAVED THEM_!"

The Avatar lowered his head, "I-I can't Firebend yet...I would have just made the ship sink faster by adding water to kill the flames-" he fell silent when she slapped him hard across the face.

"LIAR!" she snarled at him, "You're the damn Avatar! YOU CAN DO ANYTHING YOU WANT!"

Sitting onto top of Appa, Sokka could spot something floating above the surface of the water. "What is that?" he narrowed his eyes and leaned forward to get a better look. "IT'S THEM!" the warrior cheered at the top of his lungs when he recognized Zuko's scarred face. "I mean-" Sokka coughed and pretended not to care about it.

Xhela's eyes brightened when she saw Zuko helping his Uncle Iroh swim towards the dock. "You're alright!" she was crying tears of joy as they climbed onto the deck. The Earthbender went to hug Zuko but he knocked her away from him with a cold look in his eyes.

"Just leave me alone," Zuko snarled at her in a dark voice.

She looked over at Uncle Iroh, who was too out of breath to speak out, he had a nasty cut above his right eye and his lip had been split open. "Why are you angry with me?" Xhela was no longer crying.

"You drive me utterly insane! If I had never offered you my help-I wouldn't be in this mess right now! None of this would have happened to me or my uncle…or my ship!" the Fire Prince yelled at her. Zuko narrowed his eyes at her, "LEAVE NOW!"

Taking a step back, Xhela lowered her head in defeat. She brushed past Aang and the others without making another sound. Xhela limped her way through the abandoned market place and headed towards the forest; she never looked back.


	11. The Fire Eater

Wandering around the forest aimlessly, the Earthbender was heading back home with a broken heart. But it no longer felt like home, her home was with Zuko and Iroh. _I'm such a fucking idiot_…

It would be a three day walk back to the sanctuary of her kingdom, but she would never make it there in the condition she was in. Staying strong about pressing forward, Xhela continued to charge ahead with a look of determination in her honey-colored eyes.

A tear glided down her cheek when her mind wandered to the memory of the look on Zuko's face-a look a pure hatred. She kicked a pebble out of her path to vent out her anger. Xhela believed that she would finally have a happy ending, _I guess I was wrong_. Everything was her fault, Zuko was right about that.

The Earthbender wondered why she had decided to reach out to Zuko for help in the first place. _His eyes_..._he had such kind eyes_. _And it's your destiny_… Mixed feelings of anger and regret filled her heart. _I don't believe in destiny!_

She stopped dead in her tracks when she heard rustling leaves from high above her head. "You can come out now, Avatar," the young general quickly wiped the glistening tears from the corners of her eyes.

Dropping down from the tops of the trees with great ease, the Airbender solemnly stood before Xhela. Twiddling his thumbs as he thought of what to say, Aang finally blurted everything out in one long breath. "I need you help Xhela-I need you to teach me how to Earthbend before-"

"I'm not a very good teacher," Xhela interrupted in a meek voice. She knew that Aang would need the best training possible to make him able to face the Fire Nation alone. It would take months and the Avatar didn't have that much time left.

"Please Xhela!" Aang begged at the top of his lungs, "I have to learn how to Earthbend... Katara has been captured! I don't have much time before they kill her-please Xhela!"

Raising a questionable eyebrow at the Avatar, she finally nodded in reply with a faint gleam in her sad eyes. "I'll do my best to teach you all that I know," Xhela gave Aang a broken smile, "and you can count me in on helping you retrieve Katara back."

The Earthbender General glanced up at the sky to see Sokka peering down at them from Appa's saddled back. "So...does this mean that I can hitch a ride from you guys then?" she asked in a hopeful voice.

* * *

"When you are in the presence of royalty you must never make eye-contact, never speak to them unless spoken to, never slouch, and _never _touch them." Xhela carefully explained to Sokka and Aang about the importance of manners when faced with those of royal blood. "Otherwise you'll find yourselves in the dungeon..."

"As for you," she narrowed her eyes at Sokka, "don't try to make any cynical jokes to the princess, don't swallow your dinner in one loud gulp, and stop making those disgusted looks!"

"Hey!" Sokka snapped back sourly at her, "I'm not making any disgusted looks!"

Frowning at the warrior for a split second, the Earthbender suddenly appeared as if she had remembered something. "Oh yes," Xhela bowed her head at Sokka with an apologetic expression, "Forgive me. I forgot that you always look like that..." she beamed at Sokka's dark glares.

"Ha-" Aang wiped a tear from the corner of his eye. "That was pretty fun-" the Avatar fell silent when he caught sight of the daggers that were coming out of Sokka's eyes. He quietly bit down on his lower lip so he wouldn't begin laughing again.

"Are you two coming or not?" Xhela called from the end of the corridor. She led the heroes to the royal chambers, "Remember your manners Sokka..." she warned in a bitter voice.

Guarding the entrance to the royal chambers were two Earthbenders who couldn't be a day older that twenty. They immediately saluted Xhela as she approached them with a stern look on her face, "Gentlemen, you both are relieved of your posts..." Obeying their general, the guards opened the golden doors for Xhela and her guests to enter and then they took their leave.

The first thing that caught Sokka's attention was all of the food that was just waiting to be eaten on the royal dining table. As he slowly approached the delicious food, Xhela grabbed the always-hungry warrior by the back of his shirt collar and dragged him away from the table. "Just a little nibble..." Sokka started to beg; he had never seen such wonderfully prepared food before.

"Just keep your mouth _shut _and don't _touch _anything, do you understand?" the Earthbender hissed in a cold voice as she forced him to stand next to Aang.

Before Xhela could bark any more orders at Sokka, the small golden door; which led to another royal chamber; to their left creaked open. A beautiful young girl with smooth, hazel-colored hair cautiously stepped out of the doorway to greet her guests. Her delicate pearl earrings sparkled in the light along with her bright smile. The princess' flowing silk gown trailed along the marble floor as she approached Xhela, "Welcome home dear sister." Instead of greeting one another like they were family, Xhela and the princess bowed their heads in each other's direction.

"_Sister_?" Sokka whispered to Aang in shock. Aang shrugged in reply with a befuddled expression.

"May I introduce to you, Princess Celia, the greatest bender of this era-the Avatar," Xhela signaled for Aang to formally greet the Earth Kingdom princess.

Remembering what the young general had said, Aang bowed before the princess from his waist up in a graceful manner. "Thank you for your gracious hospitality Princess Celia," he whispered in a humble voice. Aang knew exactly how to handle people of noble birth; he glanced over to see Xhela nodding in approval.

Unfortunately, the same could not be said for Sokka since he had grown up in a poor fisherman village in the Arctic. "I also present to you, Princess Celia, the protector of the Avatar from the Water Tribe-Sokka," Xhela crossed her fingers as she said his name.

The warrior was slightly stunned with the title that Xhela had given him; it had gotten to Sokka's head a little bit. Completely forgetting that he was supposed to bow, he instead stuck out his right hand for the princess to shake. Sokka roughly shook the princess' delicate hand, "Nice to meet you."

For a moment there was deadly silence between the Earthbenders and the heroes. Suddenly, Princess Celia laughed, "You're very different, aren't you?" her pearl earrings jingled as she shook his hand. "You look starved to death, sit down and eat young hero..." Momentarily fixing the stunning oak crown on the top of her head, the princess signaled for her guests to sit down at the dining table.

As Princess Celia turned away from the heroes, Aang and Xhela both smacked Sokka on the side of the head for acting so rudely to the princess. "_Idiot_," Xhela muttered to Sokka when he didn't understand what he had done wrong.

"At least I got food out of it," Sokka hissed back with a toothy grin.

Xhela rolled her eyes in disappointment, "Only because of _pity_."

While Sokka consumed all of the food he could get his hands on, Aang discussed important matters with the princess. As for Xhela, her mind was wondering elsewhere. She could never stand being a princess; the conversations her sister had with her guests would always put Xhela into a deep sleep.

Luckily, a solider entered the royal chamber with an urgent message for Xhela. "General Xhela, you have someone requesting your presence downstairs," the solider kept his eyes fixed on the ground as he said this.

"Excuse me," she whispered to the heroes and her sister. Taking the only chance of escape, Xhela walked downstairs with the warrior in complete silence. Whoever had saved Xhela from two hours of torment would receive the greatest praise for demanding her presence. She stopped at the last step when she saw who was patiently waiting for Xhela to show up, _Fee_...

The ten year-old Earthbender with pigtails was grinning from ear to ear, "Auntie Xhela!" Rushing over to Xhela, Fee wrapped her tiny arms around the general's neck and hugged her tightly. "Took you long enough to come home!" she wrinkled her nose at her aunt.

"I'm soooo sorry Fee," Xhela lifted her niece into the air and twirled her around to show how happy she was to see her brother's only daughter. Every time Xhela looked into Fee's eyes, she could feel nothing but regret about her brother dying and being unable to see his daughter grow up to become a great bender. Since the day her brother, Onix, presented his baby daughter to Xhela, she has made Fee her pride and joy in life. Dropping her niece back down on the ground, the general patted Fee on the head, "I promise you that I will never do that again to you..."

Fee grinned brightly at Xhela, "Well-come on then!" She started to tug on her aunt's right arm to have Xhela follow her out of the royal palace.

"What? Where are we going?" Xhela eyed her niece suspiciously; Fee had a knack for trouble sometimes.

"You promised me that you would show me that new Earthbending move you learned," Fee was slightly pouting to make sure that she would have her way. "You promised!"

Glancing back up at the stairs, Xhela suddenly remembered that she had left Sokka unsupervised. But then she remembered her sister's droll voice and she didn't want to face that horror again. Sighing loudly, Xhela finally agreed to her little niece's demands and followed her outside to the Earthbender's training area.

While Fee was trying to tie her pigtails into one long braid, Xhela was removing her shoes and putting on a blindfold to make it a fair fight. Very few Earthbenders were skilled enough to fight their enemies while blind; Xhela's brother was known as the best Earthbender of his age.

Earthbenders began gathering around the training area to place their bets on who would win and to cheer for their beloved general. "I bet you five gold pieces that Fee defeats General Xhela," Ping smirked at his admiral. The admiral just laughed in reply.

"You're lucky," Princess Celia commented as she sipped on her golden goblet, "My sister is the best Earthbender around." Her ears perked up when she heard cheers and yells coming from the open window. "You can go and watch. It seems my niece, Fee, has challenged Xhela again..." the princess pointed to the window.

While Aang wandered over to see who Xhela was fighting, Sokka scooted his chair closer to the princess. He couldn't put his finger on it, but Sokka could have sworn that he had seen Princess Celia from somewhere before. "Have you ever ridden on a flying bison before, Princess Celia?" the warrior asked in a smooth voice. Sokka grinned when she giggled in reply and shook her head, "Would you like to ride on sometime soon?"

Before the princess could speak, Aang ran away from the window and snatched Sokka by the shirt collar. "Come on-let's get a closer look!" Rushing down the stairs at top speed, Aang led Sokka to the Earthbender training area with a smile spread from ear to ear. "Maybe I'll be able to learn a few moves," the Avatar said ecstatically just as the fight was starting.

Tightening her grip on her favorite weapon, a long metal chain with a sharp metal hook on the end, Fee impatiently waited for the whistle that would begin the sparse. The ten year-old was more than capable of defeating Xhela; Xhela's brother was the better Earthbender and he had taught his daughter.

Xhela took a defensive posture as an Earthbender whistled for the fight to begin. Using her Earthbending skills, the general could actually picture what was happening in front of her thanks to the vibrations running through the ground. All Xhela had to do was wait for the opportune moment to strike.

Slowly vertically swinging her metal chain on her left side, Fee was calculating her plan of attack. With every complete swing, the metal hook on the end moved closer and closer to the ground. The second the hook hit the ground, Fee sent a large chunk of rock soaring towards Xhela. As she swung her metal chain faster and faster, more and more rocks came flying towards Xhela.

Ducking from the first rock, Xhela made four long slates of solid rock spring up from the ground and cover her like a turtle shell. No matter how hard or how long Fee sent chunks of rock at her, the general would be safe in her rock shell.

When the volley of rocks ceased, Xhela's protective rock shell crumbled away to reveal that she was sitting down on a raised mound of dirt like she was bored already.

Fee quickly changed her plan of attack when she knew that brute force would not let her win. She decided to try a few agility attacks instead on her blindfolded aunt. Running at Xhela, with her metal chain still swinging in the air, Fee took a swipe at her stomach and then at her feet to knock her off balance.

Smoothly stepping from side to side, Xhela dodged the dangerous metal hook just by performing a few simple dance moves. "You can do better than this Fee," the general yawned loudly when Fee was changing her plan of attack once again.

If agility and brute force would not work, then Fee only had one more option-a surprise attack. Swinging her metal chain faster and faster, it appeared like Fee was going to use brute force once more to win this sparse. When she sent the first chunk of rock at Xhela, the ten year-old then slid her foot forward to send a miniature earthquake as a surprise attack.

Kicking the chunk of rock out of her way, Xhela could feel the ground tremble underneath her feet. Quickly moving her right foot back and sliding her left foot forward, Xhela sent a violent line of stone spikes to counter attack the earthquake her niece had created. Xhela cracked her knuckles loudly as she patiently waited for Fee's next attack.

With no more options left, all Fee could do was combine all three elements of attack and hope for the best. Using her best martial and bending skills, the young girl sent another volley of rocks towards Xhela while trying to take a swipe at aunt with her metal hook.

Keeping a slow but moving pace, Xhela began to wave her hands back in forth in a smooth, flowing movement as she side-stepped out of the rocks' paths. Xhela was preparing for her surprise attack; the one final move that Fee wanted to desperately learn.

As Fee continued to use multiple styles of attack, a large mound of dirt began to rise up from behind her. Soon, the mound of dirt began to form claws, a long, slender body, and a serpent-like head. Before Fee even knew what was going on behind her, the dirt dragon struck with such speed it made the onlookers jump back from the training area. Tightly wrapping Fee with its muscular body so she could not get away, the dragon opened its mouth to swallow her whole.

In one swift movement, Xhela caused the dirt dragon to harden into a statue with it still gripping her niece. Xhela had just barely prevented the dirt dragon from swallowing Fee, its teeth were just inches from the top of her head. Cautiously pulling the blindfold off, the general smirked at the irritated expression on her niece's young face. "Maybe next time Fee," she flicked the stone statue with her index finger to cause the stone dragon to turn into dust. Patting the ten year-old on the top of her head, Xhela led her niece towards home. "I'm still very proud of you..."

"_WOW_! That was amazing!" Aang tugged on Sokka's sleeve with an excited look in his eyes.

Ping handed five gold coins over to his admiral, who was still laughing about the entire thing, with a long sigh. "I guess they don't call her the Fire-eater for nothing," the Earthbender sulked away from the training area to resume his abandoned post.

* * *

"Today's the day Momo!" Aang sprung out of his bed with a bright grin on his innocent-looking face. Cracking his back, the Avatar sat down on the floor to put his shoes on. He paused when he remembered the first time Katara had given him a Waterbending lesson. Quickly getting to his feet, Aang puffed out his chest and stomped out of the guest room with a look of determination. _I'll learn how to Earthbend and save you Katara_!

Running to the training area, Aang was surprised to see that Xhela was already practicing her martial art skills with Sokka. "Keep your chin up and watch my eyes... That will give you a clue of where I am about to strike," Xhela instructed as she stood completely still.

"OWWW!" Sokka yelped at the top of his lungs when he suddenly realized that he was lying on the flat of his back without even knowing that Xhela had attacked him. "That was a really cheap trick, you know that?" he growled as he declined Xhela's outstretched hand.

"You don't believe me?" she laughed at Sokka's reddened face. Xhela glanced over to see that Aang was patiently waiting for his first Earthbending lesson. "Good morning Aang! Ready for your first lesson?" Xhela glanced down at his leather shoes, "Well...first thing first. No shoes are allowed during training because you'll never truly learn how to Earthbend with shoes blocking your connection with the earth."

"Oh, sorry," Aang quickly threw his shoes off to please his trainer. "What are you going to teach me first? That finishing move you used yesterday?" the Avatar couldn't wait to learn how to Earthbend. His bright smile faded when Xhela handed him four pebbles from off the ground, "_Pebbles_?"

Picking up some pebbles of her own, Xhela placed two on each hand; right on the knuckles. Slowly moving her pinky finger down, she made the pebbles roll across her knuckles to her thumb and then back to their original positions. "You have to be able to feel the ground before you can become an Earthbender. Balancing pebbles helps focus your mind and allows you to move with the ground. Once you are one with the ground, you can control mountains."

Xhela took the four pebbles off her knuckles to show what she meant. "If I am not one with the earth, I can only chuck _one_ pebble at Sokka's head."

Upon hearing his name, Sokka immediately covered his head with his hands and ducked away from the pebble Xhela had chucked at him. "Ha! Missed!" he blew a raspberry at her.

"But if I am a true Earthbender, I can chuck as many pebbles as I want at Sokka..." Xhela slid her right foot across the dirt to have a sea of pebbles rise up from the ground; Sokka began to whimper. Luckily, Xhela lowered the pebbles back to the ground; allowing Sokka to breathe a little bit easier.

"Unlike Airbending, Aang, you have to face Earthbending head-on without any second thoughts. You cannot evade the problem like Airbending allows you to do... You must be confident in your abilities before you Earthbend." The Earthbender general took a defensive position and signaled for Sokka to use his metal boomerang on her.

"If you were an Airbender, you would be trained to dodge Sokka's boomerang," Xhela side-stepped out of the metal boomerang's path. "But if you were an Earthbender, you would be trained to face it!" As the boomerang was making its return trip, Xhela stood right in its path and caused a tremor of spikes to knock the boomerang off balance and fall to the ground.

"Everyone is not instantly perfect at everything Aang, even if you _are_ the Avatar. You have to start small and work your way up like everyone else. So," Xhela tossed the boomerang back to Sokka, "Are you ready to try out your pebbles or not?"

Sokka glared at the both of them, "And don't think you can continue playing the _let's_ _beat up Sokka _game..."

After several hours of training, Aang was finally able to create a defensive rock shell around himself and send several flying pebbles at Sokka's head. "Alright," Xhela clapped her scarred hands together, "That's about all of the abuse poor Sokka can take I think Aang," she playfully winked at the Avatar. "We'll resume tomorrow-"

"General Xhela," Ping approached her carrying a piece of parchment in his hands. "We just received this from the spies in the Fire Nation territories…" he presented her the parchment.

Snatching it from his hands quickly, Xhela scanned the cryptic text with a frown on her face. She glanced over at Aang and Sokka while she handed Ping the parchment back. "We found Katara. Problem is that she is in a far-worse situation than I predicted…" she let a long sigh out.

"Where is she?" both Sokka and Aang asked.

"She is at the Boiling Rock…the only prison that has a record of no one ever escaping…" the Earthbender looked up at the sun high above their head. "Katara will be executed in three days if we don't head there immediately."

"Let's go then!" Aang was already calling for Appa.

Xhela cringed at the thought of the prison; she had heard rumors about that hell hole. _Let's go then_, she told herself silently.


	12. The Boiling Rock

It was decided that Xhela and Sokka would volunteer for the mission, while Aang and Appa would not participate in the rescue. If Aang was captured, the Fire Lord would be alerted and the three of them could not handle the mad man and Firebenders at the time being.

Xhela gave her firebender uniform to Ping, instructing him to lead Sokka and her to the Boiling Rock as his captives. To make it convincing, Ping received a black eye from his general to look like the two had put up a fight. Also, under Ping's firebender armor were a few stones, to give the appearance he was very buff, and Sokka's boomerang.

The Avatar and his flying bison would remain hidden on the outskirts of the Boiling Rock until a signal was given for them to fly in and help them escape.

Xhela's stomach twisted into knots as she and Sokka depressingly followed Ping towards the entrance of the Boiling Rock. A foul smell like rotten eggs hit her nostrils along with a sudden heat wave. Once they were close enough, she realized that the prison sat on a hot pool of water supplied by hot springs deep underground.

"I have new prisoners," Ping yelled a little too loudly at a fellow Firebender standing guard at the entrance. Small beads of sweat dripped down his forehead.

_Don't mess this one up Ping_…Xhela crossed her fingers and silently prayed that their plan would work.

The guard snorted before he approached Xhela and Sokka to examine them closely. "Who are they?" he muttered as he poked Xhela roughly in the shoulder.

"That is Earthbender General Xhela," Ping pointed to the female, "and this is a warrior from the Northern Water Tribe," he pointed to Sokka.

"Alright, bring them in then," the guard pushed the door open and ushered the three of them into a box-shaped contraption that hung from a thick rope above their heads. The Firebender then shot a small flame high into the air to signal to the firebenders on the other side.

The box jerked forward awkwardly and was pulled along the tight rope across the boiling pool to the prison. The Boiling Rock prison looked like a typical Fire Nation prison, being made solely out of metal and high walls.

Sokka exchanged a nervous look with Xhela as they moved closer and closer to the prison. "Just stick to the plan you two. We'll see you in two days Ping…" Xhela kicked her warrior in the foot, "Don't look so damn sweaty. You're a Firebender after all," she hissed at Ping.

An older Firebender with a long black beard and mustache unlocked the front gate to the prison with a golden key hanging on a silver chain from his neck. He barked at Ping to lead the "fresh meat" to their new homes. Xhela made sure to memorize his face.

Escorted to their new prison cells, Xhela winked to Sokka before they were split up and placed in separate cells. "Welcome to your room in hell," chuckled a Firebender guard as he shoved Xhela into her dismal-looking cell.

_Well at least he is honest_, she thought to herself as she quickly glanced around. No windows except for the metal bar door and a bed the size of a pin cushion on the floor. Xhela could only describe the cell as cold, dark, and depressing. Letting a long sigh out, the Earthbender sat down on her useless bed on the floor and stared at the other prison cells across from her.

There had to be at least 100 cells with only 20 or so Firebender guards. Xhela guessed that so few guards were needed because the prisoners had no way to escape. The only way out was through the locked gate and into that hanging contraption. Even if a prisoner got that far, the Firebenders could just cut the rope and let the prisoner burn to death in the boiling pool. _If there was only a way to keep them from cutting the rope…_

Xhela snapped out of her thoughts when her cell door suddenly opened. A guard handed her a mop and a bucket of water, "Time to clean your scum," he snarled.

Walking downstairs, Xhela found all of the prisoners out of their cells busily cleaning with the guards keeping a close eye on them. The Earthbender spotted a familiar face over by the staircase – Katara was scrubbing each step with a tiny brush. Her hands were bound with metal cuffs to prevent her from moving her arms enough to bend water.

Silently moving to where Katara was cleaning, Xhela stuck her mop in the soapy water and randomly moved the mop across the metal floor pretending she was working. "Katara," she hissed in a low voice.

Katara lifted her head to look at Xhela and almost dropped her scrub brush. "What are you doing here?" she whispered. The Waterbender glanced around at the other prisoners; she spotted her brother not too far behind them. "Is Aang…?"

"No," Xhela coughed to cover up their conversation. "Best to leave him out of this rescue mission this time," she winked before dipping her mop into the bucket. "Just get ready to break out of here in two days…"

* * *

_Fuck! Fuck – fuck!_ Xhela slipped down the metal stairs as she rushed away from the Firebender guards hell-bent on killing her. _How did our plan get so fucked up?_ The general bolted up the opposite metal staircase across the prison with the guards hot on her tail. _SOKKA THIS IS ALL YOUR DAMN FAULT! _Xhela dodged a fireball before heading towards the warden's office at the upper floor of the Boiling Rock.

Everything was working smoothly until Sokka found his lost love – Suki locked up in one of the cells only hours before their escape. Memorizing the guards' patrol patterns were utterly useless when the group of heroes were forced to wait an extra hour to rescue Suki. Xhela was forced to improvise, which wasn't one of her best traits.

Now it was up to her to kidnap the pointy-beard warden and use him as leverage as they escaped on that hanging contraption.

Sprinting up the stairs, Xhela slammed into the metal door with all of her strength. Ignoring her ringing ears, the general took a few steps back before she rammed the door again. On the fourth try, Xhela finally broke the door down to the warden's office.

Immediately she slid across the metal floor to take cover under the warden's hug map table as the elder Firebender kicked flames at her. Xhela broke a leg off the table to make it fall off-balance on its side protecting her even more.

After catching her breath and counting to three, the Earthbender leapt over the broken table waving the wooden steak like a mad woman. She narrowly dodged the flames the warden threw at her and was able to block of few of his punches with her weapon. Somehow along the way, the end of her wooden steak caught on fire.

Finally finding an opening in the Firebender's attacks, Xhela moved in quickly to knock the wind out of him by hitting his Adam's apple. Swiftly moving behind him while he was busy coughing for air, Xhela wrapped her arms around his neck and head and held the burning end of her weapon close to his face. She could smell his pointy-beard burning.

The guards rushed into the warden's office to find him under Xhela's death grip with flames dangerously close to his sweating face. "Take one step closer and I'll burn this man's eyes right out," she threatened in a dark voice. "Now back up against the wall, lie down on your stomachs, and place your hands above your heads," the Earthbender barked at the guards. "If any of you follow me – I'll kill him!"

Slowly backing out of the warden's office, she silently counted how many guards had come to the warden's rescue. She smirked when all were accounted for. "Nice place you guys have here by the way," Xhela stepped out of the office and tediously moved backwards down the stairs to where her friends were waiting.

"You got him!" Sokka exclaimed as he hugged both his sister and girlfriend.

"Get the key from his neck Katara and unlock the gate so we can get out of here," Xhela tightened her grip on the warden's neck and head when he tried to struggle.

The warden glared at Xhela, "I'll break _both_ of your fucking legs once I am free. I swear it," his words were full of venom. The general just chuckled to herself in response.

Just as Katara unlocked the gate, yelling and shouts came from the courtyard – the Firebender guards were coming. Xhela froze, _What should I do now_? She glanced over at her friends; they were already in the hanging contraption waiting for her to join them.

Xhela's eyes widened when she realized how the contraption worked. Someone needed to rotate a wheel on a levy system. If they took the warden with them, who was going to operate the wheel?

"Looks like you didn't think this far ahead, did you Earthbender?" the warden hissed with a smirk on his thin lips.

_Fuck…_ Xhela bit her lower lip as she decided on what to do. Taking the blunt end of the wooden steak, the general knocked the warden in the back of his head to temporarily stun him. She carried him to Sokka and ordered to take him, "If you have to kill him – do it. If you stop moving, use your hands and move this thing."

The Firebenders guards had finally pushed their way through the prisoners in the courtyard to the entrance of the Boiling Rock. Flames were being shot into the air, they were signaling for reinforcements that were stationed nearby.

"Where are you going?" Katara stared at her wide-eyed.

"I'll keep them from burning the rope down," she kicked the hanging contraption to move from the stone platform to a quarter of a way over the hot pool. "Don't come back here…I'll be fine!" Xhela then rushed over to the wheel and began to turn it counter-clockwise, hoping she would have enough time to get them halfway before the Firebenders attacked. She glanced back to see all 20 Firebenders standing behind her, the only thing standing between her and them was the gate.

_Hurry hurry hurry! _Beads of sweat dripped down Xhela's face as she turned the wheel as fast as she could go. Once her friends were only a few feet away from the stone platform on the other side, the Firebenders had melted the gate down.

Xhela waited for a Firebender to make their first move at burning the rope. One bender was finally brave enough but Xhela suddenly leapt on him with her fists flying. If she could cause enough commotion amongst the guards, they would forget about the prisoners escaping for the time being.

She continued to swipe at Firebenders stupid enough to get within her reach until they all worked together to overpower her. Xhela was dealt with a blow to the back of her head, stunning her and forcing her to her knees. Once on her knees, she was continually punched in the ribs until she collapsed to the ground unconscious.

The Earthbender awoke when her face was shoved under icy water and she struggled to breathe. Dragging her face out of the water by her hair, the warden sneered at Xhela with his dark eyes. "Your friends and the Avatar may have narrowly escaped our clutches but we still have you." He leaned closer to whisper something into her ear, "The Fire Lord would like to have a few _words_ with you."

A chill went down her spine. She was finally fulfilling her destiny, but Xhela felt like this was not what she had in mind. _I wish you were here to save me this time Zuko_…

The warden pulled away from Xhela's face with a smile on his thin lips, he enjoyed watching the fear consume her. He snapped his fingers to his guards before exiting the cell, "Break her legs."

* * *

**Notes: **New re-write for this chapter entirely. Sorry guys, I just think this works better than the last one.


	13. Cutting Family Ties

Uncle Iroh solemnly followed the Firebender guard to his new prison cell; the elderly man did not lift his eyes from the ground. The guard slammed the metal door without saying a single word to the Fire Nation traitor, leaving Uncle Iroh to dwell alone in his thoughts.

His heart grew heavy when he thought about his beloved nephew betraying him. Just when he believed Zuko was going to give into his good and loving nature he turns around and attacks the Avatar. The Fire Prince still wanted to return home more than anything.

Until Zuko realizes that he is not evil like his father and sister, Unlce Iroh would act like his nephew never existed.

Sitting down on the hard wooden chair and releasing a long sigh, Iroh's lonely eyes wandered around his desolate cell.

His eyes drifted over to the cell directly across from him, Uncle Iroh had to strain his old eyes to see what was hiding in the shadows of the neighboring cell. Cowering in the corner was a shoeless prisoner covered with soot, wearing nothing but tattered shreds of cloth. The prisoner had their face buried in their hands, trying to hide from the depressing world.

"I'll bring your meal down in a little while, sir," the guard poked his head around the corner and peered in to see Iroh's emotionless face.

As the guard returned to his post, the prisoner across from Uncle Iroh lifted their head to see who was now occupying the neighboring cell. Long, tangled brown hair covered most of their face, but the elder Firebender immediately recognized the broken smile on their dry and cracked lips.

"General Xhela…?" Iroh could not believe it. He and Zuko had heard rumors that she was captured at the Boiling Rock had died there.

Xhela's cold honey-colored eyes softened for a moment before she nodded in reply. She got to her feet, the Earthbender was nothing but skin and bones now, and limped to the metal door to have a better look at Uncle Iroh. Taking one look at Xhela's leg, Iroh knew that her right leg had been broken and never healed properly. It was a precaution the Fire Nation would take against Earthbenders to prevent them from bending ever again.

Her sorrowful smile widened, as if she was telling him that everything would improve sooner or later. The small flame of hope had not flickered out for her just yet.

* * *

Zuko slammed the guard against the wall, "You did not see me here-_understand_?" he hissed in a cold voice. Once he had received a nod of approval from the frightened guard, the disgruntled teenager moved towards the prison cell where his uncle was being held captive. "Uncle," Zuko peered into the dark prison cell. "Uncle, I need your advice…" the Fire Prince pleaded in a soft voice.

Deliberately ignoring his nephew, Iroh turned his back on Zuko and stared solemnly down at his feet. It shamed him to know that Zuko had not heeded his previous advice to forget about pleasing his father by capturing the Avatar. What pained Uncle Iroh even more was how Zuko betrayed him by siding with his malicious sister, when Iroh had raised Zuko like he was his own son. That sick and twisted sister, Azula, had tricked Zuko into capturing his uncle and getting a free ticket home.

"Uncle, please…I don't know what to do anymore…" the young Firebender wrapped his hands around the cool metal bars as he waited for his uncle's words of wisdom.

The elder Firebender continued to give his nephew the cold shoulder, Uncle Iroh could not bring himself to look at his nephew anymore.

"Fine! Don't speak with me! Just waste away here in this damn prison cell for all I care," Zuko snarled before he turned away from his Uncle Iroh. "_See if I fucking care_," the Fire Prince muttered under his breath as he pulled his crimson hood back over his head.

Storming out of the prison, Zuko tightened his fists to control his building rage. _Why is he so stubborn?_ _Stupid old FOOL!_ The Fire Prince kicked a large rock by his feet as hard as he could.

Back in the prison, Xhela limped out of the shadows of her cell to see Uncle Iroh throw a small bowl of white rice at the metal door. He turned his head and glanced over at the Earthbender General; a glistening tear rolled down his wrinkled cheek.

* * *

"Prince Zuko, your mother was Avatar Rokou's granddaughter…" Uncle Iroh called out finally just before Zuko was out of hearing range. The elder Firebender sighed loudly when his nephew came stomping back to the prison cell, "This is why you are constantly struggling against yourself."

Zuko narrowed his golden eyes at his uncle, "Why did you not tell me this before?" his blood began to boil. "Were you waiting for some special occasion or something? Oh, by the way-your mother was the progeny of the previous Avatar meaning that you have the Avatar's blood running through your veins! Which also means that you are somewhat related to the boy you have been trying to capture for the past three FUCKING YEARS!"

"Don't yell at your uncle like that. It's not his fault," mumbled a voice from the neighboring cell.

The frown on Zuko's scarred face deepened, "And what makes you think that _you_ have _any say_ in this conversation?" He glanced over his shoulder to see who had dared to speak out against the prince of the Fire Nation. Momentarily sizing up the prisoner from afar, Zuko rolled his eyes and turned his attention back to his uncle, "You're not even worth the effort," he growled.

"I love the way you lie, Zuko." Limping to the front of the cell, Xhela's pale and dirty face turned bright red. "No wonder no one expects anything from you…especially your murdering father. You're too stubborn and blind to see what is actually going on!"

Before Uncle Iroh could open his mouth to grab his nephew's attention, Zuko stormed over to the neighboring cell to knock some sense into the prisoner. "Who the _fuck_ do you think you are?" the prince cracked his knuckles before he lunged forward and grabbed her throat through the metal bars. The Fire Prince slammed her against the metal door with his hands still around her neck; he could hear his uncle protest. "I can have you ex-"

"Why are you doing this?" Xhela interrupted him in a stern voice. She didn't struggle or resist while in his grip – just remaining calm and steady. "This isn't you-this isn't the Zuko that I remember…" tears formed in the corners of her honey-colored eyes.

Zuko's eyes widened when he finally recognized her; his heart stopped and he could feel his throat close. He didn't breathe as he released his grip around her neck. _Xhela_…

Immediately, he glanced back to see if his uncle had known that the Earthbender in the cell directly across from him was in fact Xhela. The prince could feel his heart sink when Uncle Iroh simply nodded.

Swallowing the lump in his throat, Zuko opened his mouth to apologize to Xhela but she had limped back to the shadowed corner of her cell. The bent and bruised Earthbender sat on the metal floor with her face buried in her scarred hands.

"How long have you been in here?" At first he sounded concerned, but Zuko soon grew furious when she also gave him the silence treatment.

"LOOK AT ME XHELA!" the Earthbender lifted her head when she heard Zuko slam his fists against the metal door, "_Look_ at me when I talk with you…" His throat closed again when he saw the tears running down her blackened face. Zuko suddenly felt ashamed for what he had done.

The prince couldn't believe that his eyes weren't playing tricks with his mind, "It is really you…"

"I thought I knew you," Xhela gave the young Firebender a dark look once she could find her voice. "I don't even recognize you anymore…" _You're not the man I fell in love with so long ago_… She got back to her feet and confronted Zuko at his eye-level, "How could you? How could you betray us Zuko?"

He stared back at her in silence with the same befuddled frown on his scarred face. His loose black hair was longer and shaggier, partially covering up the scar.

When she could see that her words could not break down Zuko's mental wall of hot-headedness, Xhela reached through the metal bars and placed her scarred hand affectionately on his cheek. "How could you do this to _me_, Zuko? I-I…" her face suddenly grew bitter and she slapped the prince across the face.

The Fire Prince left the prison with a reddened cheek and a sullen expression, he would not get any sleep tonight – there was too much to ponder over.

* * *

When Uncle Iroh heard the guards exchange posts, he signaled for Xhela to reveal the rotting rice and meat she had left spoiling in a clay bowl for several days. Instantly, the poignant smell caught up with the refreshed guard. Xhela quickly dropped down on the cold metal floor in front of the food bowl and pretended to be dead before the guard came over to inspect her cell.

Peering inside the Earthbender's cell, the guard coughed and covered his mouth and nose when he caught a whiff of what he thought was the scent of human decay. "Fuck…Why didn't Lee mention this?" the Firebender's eyes began to water.

"Is she dead?" Uncle Iroh asked in a quiet and sympathetic voice. It was hard to keep from smiling that their plan was working.

The guard turned his attention to the elder Firebender, "I believe so," he coughed again when he removed his hand from his mouth to speak. "I can't believe that Lee didn't smell this earlier though…" Xhela slowly opened one eye, a dark smile spread across her dirtied face as she gingerly reached for the hand-me-down blanket on the floor next to her. _Just a few more seconds_…

"He has no sense of smell," Iroh mused in a calm voice, "I believe that he has not bathed in at least a month now." He watched Xhela silently climb to her feet, wrap the ends of the red blanket around her scarred hands, and slink towards the distracted Firebender.

"Ha-" the guard's spirited laughter was cut short when Xhela grabbed him from behind and slipped the blanket around his neck.

Uncle Iroh couldn't watch, he looked down at his feet and tried to think of something else as he heard the Firebender gasping for air. He was hoping that Xhela would show mercy and only block his airway long enough to render him unconscious but she had the look of stone-cold revenge in her eyes. When he could no longer hear the Firebender struggle, Uncle Iroh still could not bring himself to look over.

Snatching the keys from the guard's belt, Xhela allowed the Firebender's limp body to fall to the ground. It took several minutes before she found the right key that would unlock her prison cell. Opening the metal door, the Earthbender stepped out of her cell for the first time in two years. The grin disappeared when she saw the revolted expression on Uncle Iroh's face. "He is still alive," she watched the joyous twinkle in his eyes return.

"We must leave before the eclipse ends," the elder Firebender brushed the grime off his shoulders once he was freed from his cell. "Otherwise our goose will be cooked…"

Xhela did not follow him at first, "What about Zuko? We can't leave him here…"

"Prince Zuko has chosen his own path. He can take care of himself," there was a tone of sadness in Uncle Iroh's voice. _He no longer needs us_… "We must hurry," he snapped out of his thoughts, "I know a secret path out of the city."

* * *

**Notes: **As I said in chapter 1, I re-vamped the story and changed the last 3 chapters into something darker. If you read the originally story, I suggest re-reading it with chapter 11 at least. Otherwise you will be lost.  
The last few chapters will follow the major events occurring in the 3rd season of the TV series, but of course not everything will be cannon. Thanks to all of the readers, new and old.


End file.
